Bigcats News

[Ngala]

On the trail of Malaysia’s fast disappearing tigers
October 25, 2016 Animals, Environment, Living, TSOL - Environment
By jay nathan

A tiger image captured by a camera trap in the Belum-Temengor forests. Photo: WWF/Christopher Wong

*This image is copyright of its original author

We had finally arrived at a ridge after some hours of wading through streams, trekking through wet vegetation and trudging up slopes at the Royal Belum State Park in northern Perak.

After threatening to rain in the morning, the weather was clearing up as we were leaving our camp at a site called Kenarung.

While the rest of us from the media took a much-deserved break at the ridge, several experts from World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Malaysia immediately got to work.

Senior field biologist Christopher Wong, species coordinator Shariff Mohamad and senior anti-poaching officer Lau Ching Fong, began surveying the area for an ideal location to set up a camera to monitor tigers.

The effort to save the Malaysian tiger is urgent. In the 1950s, there were an estimated 3,000 of these magnificent animals in the country. However, recent estimates suggest only 250 to 340 tigers are left. With so few wild tigers left, bold and immediate action is needed.

In Malaysia, some of the key threats to tigers are poaching, habitat loss or fragmentation, and less animal prey for them to hunt. Eighty-five percent of tiger habitats in the country also fall outside protected areas.

Christopher Wong pretends to be a tiger to test the camera trap (fixed on the tree).

*This image is copyright of its original author

The WWF team looked for footprints of tigers and other animals such as wild boar and barking deer on the trail. In the process, they found fresh tapir dung at a location where two trails met.

This was a good indication of animal movement in the area, they agreed. On the way up to the ridge earlier, we had also seen elephant dung and sun bear claw marks on trees.

Once the team had established a suitable location, they cleared a spot near a tree up a slope and set up the camera.

Camera trapping, where a passing animal triggers off a photo snap, is a method used to monitor tigers and their prey to assess their population status.

“High traffic of animals is a good sign for a camera location. We also consider geographical features such as slopes and places with more than two trails,” explained Wong.

An Orang Asli village around the forests of Belum-Temengor.

*This image is copyright of its original author

“At downward slopes, animals tend to walk faster, so a camera will probably capture blurred or partial photographs of animals. As for two trails, it means more animals and better chances of getting photos.”

He and his colleagues were doing a pre-survey trip to see if tigers could be tracked in the area next year.

Wong said there were at least 105 active cameras at any one time in Belum, and this took into account the risks of damage from poachers and curious animals.

This work was part of research on tigers at the Belum-Temengor Forest Complex (BTFC). This includes both the Royal Belum State Park, which is a fully protected area north of the East-West (Gerik-Jeli) Highway and the Temengor forest reserve, south of the highway, where logging is still allowed.

Precious forests
Both forests in the BTFC are deemed to be crucial “priority sites” under the National Tiger Conservation action plan.

Tigers are apex predators sitting on top of the food chain, hence they play an important part in regulating the entire ecosystem. Having large territories, they are also an ideal “umbrella species”, meaning that protecting tigers will also protect the entire ecosystem.

WWF’s first tiger density research was done at BTFC between August 2009 and December 2011.

The second survey, which kicked off this year with annual funding of RM1.2mil from the Maybank Foundation, is due to be completed by the end of 2017.

WWF has the only NGO-led tiger conservation programme at BTFC, which has the highest density of tigers in Malaysia. The organisation is calling for better protection of forests where the tigers (and their prey) make their home.

This includes controlled access into the forest, better logging practices and having “eco links” between different areas of forest. There is also a need for more anti-poaching patrols.

The WWF team try to get satellite signals on their devices before beginning the trek of the day.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Change can happen
Tiger conservation work faces many challenges. Shariff explained information on tigers was scarce because tiger research faced difficulties when it came to funding and manpower.

He added that the camera traps took photos of animals, and tiger counts are based on the individual animal’s unique stripe patterns.

“But it doesn’t mean that if they are not seen, there aren’t tigers. That’s why the statistical analysis is important,” explained Shariff. “To conserve tigers, we can’t work alone. We work with various government agencies.

“However, logging continues in the area and it increases access by poachers because there are many logging access roads. One of the good initiatives by Perak state is to block some of these roads, but it needs to be done in other areas as well,” said Shariff.

WWF also engages with local communities, specifically the orang asli, to increase awareness and encourage participation in anti-poaching activities and develop alternative jobs.

An example of a successful push for conservation is the gazetting of the Amanjaya Forest Reserve.

“We did a systematic survey of forests on both sides of the East-West highway and found that the animals tend to use certain areas more frequently than others,” recalled Shariff.

After WWF finished the report, it was brought up to the Government along with a proposal to build a viaduct in the area so that wildlife can cross the highway safely instead of ending up as roadkill.

“Eventually the viaduct was built and Amanjaya was gazetted as a forest reserve. This shows how research can help convince policy makers to support wildlife conservation,” said Shariff. Reply