(MY) letter on tiger shooting

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New Straits Times » Letters

Need to address war of man on wildlife - Aug 30:

 

ONLY " horror " would best describe what I felt when I read the headlines

(NST, Aug 20)showing a photograph of a tiger, this time alive with the

caption: " Bars and Stripes " .

 

Be it the perpetrator or not this tiger will spend the rest of its life

behind bars. Ironically, the tiger had a nick across its forehead and a cut

on the nose, its head resting on its forepaws.

 

Malaysia needs to address the issue of conflicts between wildlife and man.

As urbanisation claims more and more of our rainforests which is home to a

collection of species of animals, it is crucial for the Wildlife Department

and relevant authorities to work out to set up a

relocation (like the existing one for elephants) and conservation programme

not just for the Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti) but for the other

precious wildlife in our jungles.

 

I know that it is easier said than done, and considering all the

bureaucratic red-tape surrounding anything related to wildlife, it is going

to be a very long struggle. While I was in Zoo Negara, entire classes of

10-year-old children from the International School spent a

whole week at the zoo learning about local species of animals found in

Malaysia, animal behaviour, the role of zoos in the future, the importance

of conservation etc. Where are our schoolchildren? W. VINITA PERERA Serdang

Spare a thought for tigers " TIGER tiger burning

bright, in the forests of the night " . Rudyard Kipling probably never

imagined a time when the forests would be bereft of tigers. And he didn't

reckon on Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

 

Shoot them all, he proclaims. Call in the army. With the tigers eliminated,

villagers can go about their daily tasks without fear. Tigers are only

animals, and everyone knows that people are more important. No doubt people

are important. But whatever happened to

respect for God's creation? Where is the proud mien of the noble tiger

photographed (NST, Aug 8) on its way to the Malacca Zoo? Wounded, possibly

weak from hunger, and probably sedated, it awaits judgment. Guilty or

innocent (of what, one may ask), it will spend the rest of its life behind

bars. Are we talking about the arrest of a psychotic serial killer or a

vicious axe murderer here?

 

 

HAMIDAH HAMZAH - Kuala Lumpur

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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