IT is encouraging to learn that the population of our Malayan tiger (Panthera Tigris Jacksoni) is now showing positive signs of recovery.
The Malayan tigeris an endangered tiger subspecies that is found only in Peninsular Malaysia (which includes southern Thailand).
Last year, the Malaysia Nature Society (MNS) said we could entirely lose the species, which possibly numbered fewer than 150, within a decade without drastic measures to mitigate their loss of habitat to development.
According to Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, recent findings suggest an upward trend in tiger numbers, though official census data is still pending.
Among reasons cited for the increase are due to awareness campaigns and anti-poaching operations.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia had also pointed out that poaching remained the primary threat to the tigers and other endangered wildlife.
Local Malaysian conservationists had sounded the alarm, urging that the tiger is in crisis, requesting even military protection for tigers from poachers.
The endangered Malayan tiger is also threatened, like all tigers, by habitat loss and fragmentation, particularly in Malaysia which has one of the highest rates of forest loss in the world due to clearing for plantations.
The expansion of logging roads into once remote parts of the forest also make it easier for poachers to reach once-inaccessible areas to place their snares and traps.
While Nik Nazmi attributed the progress to key conservation measures, including expanding protected areas and stricter enforcement against poaching, one must not overlook the tireless contribution from various Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) who have fought for the well-being of these big cats.
One such NGO is RIMAU which was established in 2018 and dedicated to the preservation of the Malayan tiger.
RIMAU is led by award winning documentarians Lara Ariffin and Harun Rahman along with renowned architect and Veritas Design Group founder David Hashim.
Lara has been producing documentaries for more than 25 years and has worked on a vast range of projects from wildlife to history, megastructures and archaeology.
RIMAU strongly believes that involving local communities living within or close to the home of the tiger is essential to ensure long term conservation success.
Currently, RIMAU is concentrating its efforts in the state of Perak in Malaysia and hopes to achieve a minimum population of 80 tigers with 20 breeding females in the state by 2030.
The NGO's work is credited to have been one of the key factors in saving the tiger population in the Royal Belum State Park.
Their initiative in involving the local Orang Asli population led to the creation of the Menraq Park Rangers that are now over a hundred strong.
A number of industry titans supportive of RIMAU stressed that without organisations like RIMAU, WWF and others, we would have already lost the Malayan Tiger.
Now it seems the lantern of hope is lit for the potential return of the peninsula’s tiger population from the brink of extinction.
As an apex predator, Malayan tigers keep populations of prey species in check, which in turn maintains the balance in the ecosystem.
This is not only important for wildlife, but for people too.
In areas where tigers thrive, food webs and ecosystems are secure.
We must never forget that tigers are keystone species that are essential to the survival of their environment. - February 7, 2025
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