KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 — The Malayan tiger has long been celebrated as a national symbol of strength and power in Malaysia, proudly gracing the nation’s coat of arms, royal insignia, and other emblems of authority.

Yet, despite its revered status, the Malayan tiger faces an uncertain future.

The tiger’s presence may soon be confined to cultural symbols and the nickname of the national football team as the species battles against escalating threats to its survival.

The preliminary results from Malaysia’s first National Tiger Survey, conducted between 2016 and 2020, reveal a dramatic decline in the country’s tiger population.

The survey conducted by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, WWF-Malaysia and various NGOs, found that fewer than 150 tigers remained in Peninsular Malaysia by 2022.

This is a sharp drop from the previous estimate of 250-340 tigers.

This alarming decline is even more striking when compared to the 1950s, when Malaysia was believed to have a thriving population of around 3,000 tigers.

The Malayan tiger is now classified as Critically Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

This means it has an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

‘Empty forest syndrome’

There are a number of factors contributing to the sharp decline of the Malayan tiger population, says Country Director at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Malaysia, Mark Rayan Darmaraj.

Poaching continues to be a major contributing factor to the decline of the species as it not only relates to the poaching of the tigers itself but the species they prey on as well.

"Prior to 10 years ago, there were perhaps only isolated incidents of snaring, but since then thousands of snares have been detected in our forests.

"Massive snaring by locals and Indochinese poachers has the potential to wipe out large mammals within a relatively short period of time. Eventually, the forest runs the risk of being void of large mammals which would render it to suffer from what we call the ‘empty forest syndrome’,” he told Bernama in an interview.

Mark Rayan explains that for tigers to thrive, they need a plentiful supply of large prey, such as the sambar deer.

Unfortunately, sambar deer populations have dwindled significantly due to overhunting for their meat, leaving tigers with a shrinking food source.

The sambar deer is the largest deer species in Malaysia, and as such is likely the most preferred prey species for the tigers based on their body weight ratio.

Additionally, habitat loss poses a major challenge. Wildlife areas are increasingly fragmented by roads, railways, plantations, housing developments, and other linear infrastructures. These constructions encroach upon the critical spaces that wildlife relies on to survive.

Moreover, the recent spread of African swine fever has further strained the tiger’s food supply, compounding the challenges they face in the wild. The fever is a viral disease that affects pigs and wild boar, and has a high mortality rate that could reach up to 100 per cent.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the first outbreaks in Malaysia were confirmed in February 2021 in Sabah and in December 2021 in the Malaysian peninsula.

The outbreak was also detected in wild boars in Perak in July 2023, and followed by more outbreaks in pig farms in the state and also Kedah in late October the same year.

Mark Rayan says the fever has not only decimated the pig population in captivity and the ones bred for human consumption, but the wild population which the tigers prey on as well.

What happens next is a tripling effect.

"Tigers need a large prey, and the largest prey for them here is the sambar deer. However, these deers have been hunted down and there are a few of them across peninsular Malaysia. So now, the tigers will have to depend on pigs.

"But even the pigs are dying off because of this disease, and now the tigers don’t have enough food,” he revealed during a public policy conference, PRAXIS 2024, held here recently.

This caused the tigers to expand their hunting grounds, inevitably wandering into areas they had not previously ventured into.

Initiatives taken

Over the past five years, significant strides have been made in wildlife and tiger conservation efforts, particularly in Malaysia.

One of the more notable initiatives is the establishment of Malaysia’s first National Tiger Task Force, dedicated to outlining strategies for preserving the Malayan tiger. It is a move that has been advocated by tiger conservation NGOs for a number of years now.

Supporting these efforts are two key initiatives: Operasi Bersepadu Khazanah and the community ranger programme, both aimed at increasing enforcement and patrolling in and around wildlife habitats.

Operasi Bersepadu Khazanah, led by the Royal Malaysia Police and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, involves participation from various agencies and NGOs.

The community ranger programme, led by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks with NGO and government support, recruits over 1,000 patrollers to safeguard wildlife habitats. These include members of the Orang Asli community, local residents, and veteran armed forces personnel.

The police has also established a Wildlife Crime Bureau, and amended the Wildlife Conservation Act in 2022 which provides stiffer penalties towards wildlife offenders.

"These much-needed initiatives have served to boost efforts in conserving tigers and other wildlife, but there is a need for these on the ground efforts to be sustained, expanded and improved upon where needed,” says Mark Rayan.

He also highlighted the establishment of the national Ecological Fiscal Transfer (EFT) as a promising mechanism to incentivise states to preserve their forests, addressing habitat loss.

However, the compensation amount must be significantly increased to effectively motivate states, he says.

"In addition, the way states use EFT funds needs better governance and streamlining to ensure that existing natural forests aren’t converted to other land uses or degraded,” he added.

Alternative solutions to explore

Aside from enhancing anti-poaching efforts on the ground, it was also crucial to investigate the connection between poachers and multiple traders who are intertwined in the business, so that the trade chain can be crippled.

"Apart from demand reduction efforts, other long-term strategies may need to be developed for behavioural change.

"At the source site, a better understanding on what drives people in deciding to become a poacher is needed so that measures can be taken to prevent or make this transition less desirable in the first place,” he said.

Mark Rayan says measures can include multiple initiatives ranging from seeking to understand the local communities’ basic necessities and helping them fulfil it, to making it difficult for poaching to occur and increasing the likelihood of being caught as a means of deterrence.

These basic necessities can range from having clean water, empowerment in co-managing a protected area, or even the need for alternative livelihoods if applicable.

A strong deterrent requires better law enforcement, like adding more patrol rangers, as well as increasing patrol skills, frequency and coverage using the latest technology.

Multiple approaches are needed to tackle the problem more effectively over a longer term, he says.

To further aid the recovery of the tiger population, it is essential to develop a strategy focused on increasing tiger prey in the wild.

Mark Rayan says this can be done through a combination of improving the food availability conditions in the habitat for prey, and professionalising the captive breeding of sambar deer and or even bearded pigs (recognising that the latter may have been severely impacted by the African Swine Fever).

The intention is to increase tiger prey availability and density in the wild.

"To save tigers, it’s crucial to protect their habitats from being lost or damaged due to activities like agriculture, mining, large-scale monoculture plantations, and infrastructure development. Stopping poaching is also key, but tiger recovery heavily depends on restoring their prey.

"This is where funds need to be extended to improve conditions. This will greatly aid tiger recovery,” he says.

Hopeful for the future

He hopes to see some of the existing initiatives that the government already has or is planning to have harmonised and optimised, for the benefit of biodiversity protection and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

He highlights the critical role of the Malaysian Tiger Task Force.

"I would love to see the Malaysian Tiger Task Force utilised in a manner that will prioritise efforts to bring in carbon financing — or other means of financing — to help protect the Malayan tigers’ habitats from being further fragmented, degraded, or converted into other land uses,” he said.

Integrating these efforts with the Central Forest Spine Master Plan, supported by the EFT and the Biodiversity Sukuk is also crucial.

"These efforts can be maximised to protect, restore, and connect tiger habitats, benefiting Malaysia’s biodiversity,” he added.

On the ground, he highlighted the vital role of the Orang Asli in protecting wild spaces.

"It is high time we recognise that the Orang Asli are our greatest allies in the protection of wild spaces,” he says.

He also calls for the institutionalisation of the community ranger programme, proposing that the contract hiring of Orang Asli as rangers be converted to permanent positions and institutionalised so that it is not dependent on annual budget allocations.

"In addition, I anticipate that new initiatives such as the Wildlife Crime Bureau will support the Department of Wildlife and National Parks to counter poaching and illegal wildlife trade particularly across international borders.

"I look forward to how this would progress positively for the greater good of protecting our biodiversity.” — Bernama