(MY) tragic end for tiger

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New Straits Times » Letters

Shooting tigers should never be an option

 

July 29: THE Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) is aghast to hear that a tiger

which had

attacked two rubber tappers at Kampung Rebana, Jeli, was shot dead by

Perhilitan

(Department of Wildlife and National Parks) staff from Kelantan.

 

The society is equally sad about the death of the tappers and sympathises with

the

bereaved families.

 

However, it is important to understand the circumstances under which the tiger

attacked the

villagers in the first place.

 

According to the autopsy done by the Malacca Zoo, the tiger was wounded by

someone

shooting from a high position.

 

Whoever did that should not have done so in the first place.

 

He should not have taken the law into his own hands and wounded the tiger,

which made

matters worse. Even humans are pardoned for killing under provocation.

 

The dead tiger was a mother with two cubs, and the two cubs may not be able to

survive on

their own. If they also die, this would result in the loss of not one but three

tigers at a time

when the tiger population is dwindling in the country due to the loss of their

habitat (the

forest) as the home range continues to shrink.

 

Let us admit that human beings are the ones who have encroached on the habitat

of the

tiger in the first place. The mother and the cubs should have been captured

alive and

relocated to a safe place or sent to a zoo.

 

The MNS recognises that capturing or tranquillising a tiger is a dangerous task

but shooting

the tiger should never be an option, even if all else fails.

 

Perhilitan, as the guardian of our wildlife, must set a good example in

wildlife conservation.

 

DATUK Dr SALLEH MOHD NOR

President Malaysian Nature Society