Image Source: Wikimedia Commons. By: B_Cool.
Asian tigers have reached dangerously low numbers. Habitat destruction and poaching are 2 of the main culprits behind this decline.
Since the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Tiger is right around the corner, there’s a good chance tiger poaching will be on the rise this year, especially since tigers have been used in Chinese medicine for quite some time. Unfortunately for some tigers, it seems the increased poaching has already started.
Malaysian tribesmen are being paid to trap and kill wildlife, including critically endangered tigers. One man recently involved in a tiger attack, Yok Meneh, claimed he fought off a four-year-old, injured male tiger, with a rock. He claimed the tiger attacked him while he was out picking wild beans and he sustained injuries on his back, hands and legs from the encounter.
Shabrina Shariff, director of the wildlife department in Perak state, has an entirely different story. According to her, Meneh was actually with a group of seven men who snared the tiger, but then were attacked by the giant cat when they tried to kill it. She explained that “he was among the tribesmen who trapped the tiger. They shot the tiger 4 times. Then they used the poisonous spear and blowpipe darts to kill it”.
I certainly would not want to die that way and I feel bad for the tiger that had to suffer through such a thing, but it seems the Malaysian tribesmen thought it was worth it. Why? Well, Shariff explained that the men were “promised thousands of ringgit” (Malaysian currency) by unidentified middlemen. The men also admitted to killing another tiger and panther, too. The unknown middlemen are suspected to be both foreigners and other Malaysians.
And there is certainly evidence of outsiders setting traps throughout Malaysia. Shariff explained:
“There is a lot of evidence that hunters from Thailand and Vietnam are setting traps in Malaysia. We have found their camps and hunting equipment. They spend a long time in the jungles. They are very organized.”
Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers coordinator, Loretta Ann Shepherd, is hoping for swift action against these tribesmen and other poachers. Earlier this week, she stated that “it is a sad way to welcome the Year of the Tiger. The authorities should prosecute those responsible. Let it be a lesson for other poachers”.
I couldn’t agree with her more.
By Heidi Marshall