Malaysia: Only 500 tigers left in the wild

Nuradilla Noorazam New Straits Times 12 Jul 13;

UNDER THREAT: Poaching most immediate threat to endangered animal's survival

KUALA LUMPUR: THE poaching of tigers in the jungles of the peninsula for their skins, bones and meat has resulted in a drastic population decline.

According to World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimates, there are about 500 tigers left in the jungles now compared to 3,000 recorded in 1957.

WWF-Malaysia executive director and chief executive officer Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma said poaching posed "the most serious and immediate threat to the survival of tigers".

"We set up our own wildlife protection units in areas such as the Belum-Temenggor forest complex (BTFC) in 2008, as we recognised that tiger conservation efforts required more cooperation from various stakeholders, including local communities."

Under the National Tiger Action Plan for Malaysia, he said BTFC was recognised as one of the three priority sites for tiger conservation, and was believed to be supporting at least 10 per cent of the country's tiger population.

"Conservation can only work if people care. Thus, local communities, with greater awareness on conservation issues, can help protect flagship species and reduce the loss of biodiversity within their area."

On Wednesday, WWF-Malaysia received funds totalling RM52,500 from the Malaysian Wildlife Conservation Foundation (MWCF) to carry out tiger conservation work and community engagement and education in BTFC.

The money will also be used to help WWF-Malaysia in its awareness campaign around Terengganu to celebrate World Sea Turtle Day (WSTD) 2014.

"WWF-Malaysia appreciates the funding as it will go a long way towards the work we are doing on two iconic endangered species in Malaysia -- the tiger and sea turtle.

"With the funding from MWCF, we will be conducting an awareness workshop on wildlife hunting for the local communities in BTFC, which includes training the Orang Asli in species conservation and protection, as well as capacity building on sustainable livelihoods."

On turtle conservation, Sharma said their key message at these outreach programmes was to "not sell, buy or eat turtle eggs".

Four marine species of turtles have been identified in Malaysia, namely the Leatherback turtles, Olive Ridley, Green and Hawksbill.

The Leatherback turtles are facing a devastating decline in their population -- a shocking 99 per cent drop in population, followed by Olive Ridley turtles at 95 per cent.

Both species are threatened by the loss of nesting and feeding habitats, excessive egg collection, pollution, fishery-related deaths and coastal development.

"We have been relentless in our efforts in raising awareness on the need to protect the species and their nesting beaches."

On next year's WSTD celebration, WWF-Malaysia is planning to hold a two-day awareness campaign through road shows covering several towns from Chukai in the southern tip of Terengganu to the northern district of Setiu.

"Our ultimate goal is to achieve a national ban on the trade and consumption of turtle eggs."

At present, only the sale of Leatherback turtle eggs are banned in Terengganu, while the eggs of other turtle species can be consumed and traded.