Tigers are on the wrong side of jungle law in Malaysia, conservationists say

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Associated Press Worldstream

August 23, 2002 Friday 5:52 AM Eastern Time

DISTRIBUTION: Europe; Britian; Scandinavia; Middle East; Africa; England;

Asia

 

Eat or be eaten: Tigers are on the wrong side of jungle law in Malaysia,

conservationists say

 

ROHAN SULLIVAN; Associated Press Writer

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia. Despite a recent spate of tiger attacks on humans,

conservationists in Malaysia say the protected big cats are increasingly on

the losing side of one of the fundamental laws of the jungle: eat or be

eaten.

 

" It is far more likely that a person will eat a tiger in this country than

the other way around, " Mikaail Kavanagh Abdullah, chief of Malaysia's World

Wildlife Fund, said Friday.

 

Although tigers are among Malaysia's most endangered animals and are

shielded from hunting by law, their meat is turning up alongside other

wildlife as fare in restaurants across the country, Abdullah said in a

statement. " Animals on offer include leopards, monkeys, bears and fruit

bats, " he said. " Tigers are a rarity on most menus, but they too end up in

the cooking pot. "

 

Although big cats and other endangered animals are protected, choice pieces

of wild animals - from whale blubber to bear paws - are prized in many parts

of Asia as traditional remedies, aphrodisiacs and delicacies.

 

Trying to capitalize on a high-profile debate on how to deal with tigers

following the recent attacks, the fund is urging Malaysians to boycott

restaurants serving wildlife meat, which is often collected illegally.

 

The fund also urged the government to pass laws making it illegal to sell

any products that claim to contain parts of animals that are endangered, as

recommended in the Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species.

 

Traditional Chinese remedies are often advertised as having products from

rare animals, said Dionysius Sharma, the WWF's head of species conservation.

Many of the claims are probably false, but may add to their popularity.

 

" We are not against traditional Chinese medicine, " Dr. Sharma said. " We are

only worried that such practices may push certain species, like the tiger,

to extinction. "

 

Three people have been killed by tigers since May in Malaysia, and at least

five other attacks have been reported this year.

 

The three deadly maulings occurred in a single district in rural northeast

Kelantan state, when tigers crept out of jungles that bordered rubber and

oil palm plantations and attacked workers.

 

Claiming villagers were too scared to go to work in the plantations,

Kelantan Chief Minister Nik Aziz Nik Mat said last week that Malaysia had

too many tigers and that he would ask the army to shoot all of the animals

in his state.

 

The plan outraged conservationists, who said tigers only attacked humans

because their natural habitat is being destroyed. State wildlife officials

also criticized his remarks, and the army took no action.

 

Once relatively common in Malaysia, the tiger population has dwindled to an

estimated 500 as their forest habitats shrink due to the spread of farming

and residential developments. Increasingly, tigers and other wild animals

are forced to look for food in areas where people live or work.

 

Killing tigers is illegal in Malaysia, unless the animal is deemed

responsible for attacking a person. In areas where tigers are spotted, traps

are laid and captured animals are taken to zoos.