Save the Harimau: A Message From The Harimau Guardians

Thursday, 28 February 2013 13:00

by Guru Scott McQuaid

At present, there is roughly as low 3,000 tigers left in the wild on this planet, however there are an estimated 5,000 tigers in cages just in the U.S.A. and there are no legitimate reintroduction programs. The reality is that if we do not protect this animal from poaching, the only tigers alive will be the ones behind bars.

There were 53 tigers killed last year which is approximately 1 per week. With each year that passes the number of tiger deaths increase. Already tiger sub-species such as the Java tiger and the Bali tiger from Indonesia have become instinct through poaching. Only the Sumatran tiger remains with about 400 left in the world. In Bangladesh there are roughly 200 tigers left, the Siberian tigers in Russia are estimated at around 331. In Thailand there is estimated to be 250 tigers in the country. Myanmar and Nepal have about a 100 tigers each and in Vietnam and China there are as low as 30 in each country.

In Malaysia there are said to be 300 and I recently visited the Malay island of Langkawi which opened their first tiger reserve in 2010. This sanctuary houses only one orphan tiger named Zanah. She made her first appearance at this reserve on February 14th commemorating the Year of the Tiger. Despite the Malay government recording tigers found in the Malaysian Peninsular as a new subspecies calling it the Malay tiger, further DNA studies show that the so call Malay tiger like their neighboring cousins in Thailand are in fact Indo-china tigers. Creating another species does not increase the tiger’s on this planet it merely magnifies the rapid decline of the panthera tigris showing that there are only 1,226 Indochina tigers spread across South East Asia, China and Russia.

At the turn of the 20th century, there were more than 100,000 wild tigers around the world; at the turn of the 21st century, fewer than 5,000 survived. This represents an alarming loss of more than 97% of the global wild tiger population.

Although major efforts are being made to preserve this magnificent animal, we are still fighting a losing battle. The last tiger census recorded was in 2004 when the report revealed that an estimated 253 Sumatran tigers were killed or live-trapped from 1998-2002, at an average of 51 tigers per year.

Poaching accounts for 78% of Sumatran tiger deaths. Although Sumatran tigers are protected by law in Indonesia with tough provisions for jail time and steep fines, a substantial market remains in Sumatra for tiger parts and products.

For example, only 29% of towns surveyed did not have tiger parts for sale, while a total of 453 retail shops were reported to have tiger parts for sale, primarily canines and claws. Most trade in skins and bones was carried on in a covert manner by a variety of dealers.

Tiger bone and other tiger parts are also reportedly still smuggled out of Sumatra. Traders report that tiger parts are sold to Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and China. Singapore and Malaysia may act as transit countries as well as consumers for tiger parts.

Previously, it was thought that Sumatran tigers were being poached primarily on the edges of forests in regions near villages where they come into conflict with people. However, in a recent survey it revealed that tigers are being hunted deep within the national parks.

Adequate legislation may be in place in Indonesia to protect the Sumatran tiger, but the enforcement and prosecution of these laws is lacking or, in many areas, non-existent. In Sumatra there have been only 4 known convictions for tiger poaching and trade since 1997.

Understandably resources are limited in Indonesia, especially for the prosecution of wildlife cases. The lack of trained and capable enforcement personnel is steadily being addressed by the government and conservation groups, and there have been major investments in training and support for forestry staff and police.

A couple years ago I started a small foundation called ‘Harimau Guardians’. Harimau is the word for tiger in Bahasa Indonesian. I’m asking my silat brothers and anyone else to stand with me to help raise awareness and help save the tiger by making a donation at the following websites listed below.

Sumatran Tiger Trust - www.tigertrust.info
Save The Tiger Now - www.savetigersnow.org
Black Triangle Silat Donate Homepage - www.blacktrinaglesilat.com