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March 1, 2008
There are only an estimated 500 left in peninsular Malaysia, “facing serious threats from poaching and wildlife trade, habitat loss, and depletion of prey and human-tiger conflict,” Dr. Dionysius S.K. Sharma, Executive Director and CEO of the World Wildlife Fund Malaysia, wrote recently to the Star Online. Six of those may recently have met a terrible but typical fate:
According to news report by the wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic Southeast Asia, the six dead tigers, two leopards and three clouded leopards were suspected to have come from southern Thailand or Malaysia and were bound for Vietnam and China.
They were already cut in half and had their organs removed.
On the other hand, enforcement efforts in Asia, and specifically in Malaysia, are ramping up. Collaboration among governments, regional alliances, and NGOs such as the WWF is tightening the net around poachers and profiteers:
The seizure was possible through information exchanges within the Asean Wildlife Enforcement Network (Asean-Wen), which Malaysia is part of, to combat cross-border wildlife crime in the region.
WWF-Malaysia views this matter with serious concern should the investigation confirm the origin of the seized tigers to be from southern Thailand or Malaysia.
It is timely that the National Tiger Action Plan, a plan spearheaded by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks in collaboration with the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (Mycat), kicks into action by this year.
The document outlines vital areas of tiger conservation that needs to be in place in order to reduce these critical threats, including enforcement work on trans-boundary matters through Asean-Wen.
Dr. Sharma's letter was answered in the Star by Perhilitan, Malaysia's Department of Wildlife and National Parks, stating that DNA fingerprinting was being done to trace the provenance of the dead tigers, and more importantly, that protections for the live ones are getting teeth and claws:
The National Tiger Action Plan, developed by Perhilitan in collaboration with the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (Mycat) with the goal of sustaining wild tiger populations in Peninsular Malaysia beyond the 22nd century, is under final review by the Government.
While awaiting final approval of this action plan, the Government and NGOs involved have begun implementing some of the actions stipulated in the plan.
Perhilitan is also strengthening the staffing at 17 exit/entry points and collaborating with enforcement agencies such as police, Customs, Immigration, army, anti-smuggling unit, airport police and maritime agency to curb wildlife poaching and smuggling.
Perhilitan is also revising the existing wildlife legislation to impose higher penalty for those convicted for crime against wildlife, especially the tiger.
Especially the tiger. Beyond the 22nd century.
How sweet the sound.
I promise you this is not going to be the Tiger Blog—well, not only. But the first round of the debate on the relationship of private tiger ownership to wild tiger conservation efforts should be posted by Monday. The participants: in one corner, two leading front-line tiger conservationists, Philip J. Nyhus, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Colby College (CV [PDF]), and Ron Tilson,* director of conservation at the Minnesota Zoo and coordinator of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association's captive breeding program for tigers. In the other corner, a leading advocate for private owners of tigers and other big cats, Brian Werner, founder and president of the Tiger Missing Link Foundation and director of Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge in Tyler, Texas.
* Free registration on Star Tribune site required on second viewing.
(Annie Gottlieb) |
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