“Getting
more
people actively involved in watching
for poachers could
be key to protecting tigers. For example, my research
found that western
Taman Negara lost
85 per cent of [the
tiger] population in
11 years because of
a lack of active protection,” Dr. Kae
Kawanishi, biologist and the general
manager of MYCAT
“That is why telling
the tiger story is important to us. In recent years,
Maybank has doubled
our efforts to support the
cause of environmental
conservation. Since 2010,
we have contributed close
to RM1.5 million to support conservation efforts.
Our employees have been
a part of some of these
community engagement
programmes, talking to
people who live in communities
surrounding
wildlife habitats,” she
added.
TIGER TRACKS
The Malayan tiger has
been classified endangered since 2008 and is in
the critically endangered
listing according to the
“Despite all efforts, including the strengthening of legislation
and increased patrolling, tiger conservation across the vast
tropical forest landscape continue to face challenges. Poaching
for illegal commercial trade is the greatest and most urgent
threat to tigers in Malaysia, followed by loss and fragmentation
of forests.” - PERHILITAN
International Union for
Conservation of Nature
(IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species’.
Getting the local community involved, MYCAT’s citizen conservation programme, Citizen
Action for Tigers (CAT),
is the only programme in
Malaysia that has volunteers to assists in protecting tigers from poachers.
The CAT WalkTM, an
anti-poaching wilderness
watch takes small groups
hiking or camping in the
rainforests of Sungai Yu
Wildlife Corridor, where
they look out for signs of
poachers, snares, and also
tigers, elephants, sambar
deer and other wildlife
Any snares and traps
found during the walk
are recorded, deactivated
and reported to relevant
authorities. CAT Walkers
also check camera traps
to monitor wildlife.
Malaysia adopted the
National Tiger Conservation Action Plan (NTCAP)
in 2008, with the aim of
having 1,000 wild Malayan tigers in the forests
by 2020. Last year, it was
revealed that there may
only be 250-340 wild Malayan tigers left, the numbers declining from the
previous estimate of 500.
MYCAT believe that
without serious and conscious conservation efforts, the Malayan tiger
may be already extinct
in the wild. Sadly, based
on last year’s statistics,
the target may now be
15
unachievable within the
timeframe.
Despite the ongoing
efforts by various pa