Malayan tiger

Tigers are at the apex of the food chain. These solitary hunters can handle animal prey up to a ton in weight . A healthy adult has the strength of 30 men! Sadly, man has turned the tables on them.

Mercilessly poached to satisfy the insatiable demand for tiger parts, wild tigers are being hunted to extinction. In 2012 alone, tiger parts from at least 22 tigers were seized in Kedah. NGOs continue to report snares and illegal camp sites, even in protected areas.

The Malayan tiger used to roam the forests of Singapore in bygone era. When their habitats were converted to plantations around 1825, human-tiger encounters escalated. In 1850, tigers were reported to be claiming human lives daily – improbable given the low tiger numbers to start with.

Seen as vermin, tigers were shot on sight. Shooters were rewarded with money. By the 1870s, tigers were all but gone. The last tiger in Singapore was shot in 1930 in Choa Chu Kang.

Fewer than 300 Malayan tigers are left in the wild. Besides illegal poaching, habitat loss and human-tiger conflicts compound the problem. To involve and educate members of the public, the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (MYCAT) launched the Citizen Action for Tigers (CAT) Walk.

CAT Walk-ers assist forest rangers in regular anti-poaching patrols of the Sungai Yu River Wildlife Corridor. Sungai Yu connects Taman Negara National Park and the Titiwangsa Mountains, two of the largest tiger habitats in Malaysia. With our support, 68 CAT Walks covering 421km have been conducted.