Malayan Tigers Expected To Go Extinct in 5-10 Years With Less Than 200 Tigers Left in 2021

By Ameera Rosli  •  13 Apr 2021 in News

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Climate change is upon us and its effects are drastically hurting our wildlife.

While Malaysians are scrambling to sustain the lives of our precious animals, which is evident by the way Malaysian Reddit began adopting animals from Zoo Negara, some people are still cruel towards these endangered species.

Only recently, a Malayan tiger was found with three gunshot wounds on its hind legs and if it weren’t for the wildlife officers, that tiger would’ve succumbed to its fatal injuries.

If you weren’t already aware, the Malayan tiger is classified as ‘Critically Endangered’ under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

Currently, there are less than 200 of these tigers alive and if poaching and threats to their biodiversity and food resources persists, these tigers are expected to go extinct in 5 to 10 years time.

According to Taiping Zoo and Night Safari director, Dr Kevin Lazarus, action needs to be taken urgently in light of this decline in population which may lead to extinction of the species.

Breeding conservation and extensive research needs to be allocated in order to keep this from happening.

Speaking to Bernama, Lazarus noted that there are captive-breeding programmes with Perhilitan and various zoos to increase the population.

There are also conservation programmes in their natural environment since there have been constant threats towards their home.

As a society, we can support wages for field assistants through donations so they’ll be able to conduct patrolling and camera-trapping.

You can also purchase camping equipments for these workers so they can carry out field surveys for research.

But most importantly, spreading awareness, sharing resources and encouraging conversations regarding the Malayan tigers is extremely crucial for cooperation from the entire community.

If we can’t open our purse to help out, we can at least open our mouths to speak out.