IT WAS a day of learning and awareness about tigers for many people as they took part in various activities in conjunction with Global Tiger Day at Bulatan Amanjaya in Meru, last weekend.
Global Tiger Day was established at the 2010 St Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia as a way to create awareness on the alarming information that 97% of the world’s tiger population has already been lost.
The summit was held to educate people on the plight of tigers around the world, and how everyone has a part to play when it comes to protecting tigers.
The greatest and most urgent threat to tiger conservation is poaching and illegal wildlife trade. Wildlife trafficking is third most globally traded illicit commodity after drugs and weapons.
During the summit, the governments of 13 countries agreed that global tiger numbers were at a critically low level with as few as 3,200 remaining in the wild around the world.
WWF Malaysia Chief Executive Officer Datuk Dr Dionysius S.K. Sharma who was at the celebration in Meru said tigers are very close to his heart.
“We have been working tirelessly to protect the Malayan tiger population in our country for close to 20 years now.
“When we first embarked on this tiger conservation journey, our team was very small, perhaps just two or three of us. It was particularly challenging to work on something as huge as tiger conservation with so few of us.
“However, as we all know, conservation is not an overnight success story and is a long-term commitment,” he said in his speech during the event.
WWF started working on tiger conservation because it realised that if tigers were forever lost, the ecosystem would lose much more.
Dionysius said the Malayan tiger is a symbol of a national pride and it stands proudly on our national emblem.
He said after 20 years, the WWF’s tiger conservation programme and the team has grown, which signifies great progress.
“All this is possible because of collaborations and joint efforts between government stakeholders and agencies, NGOs like us, corporations and funders like Maybank Bhd and the Malaysian public.
“We are working together for a common goal and that is to save the Malayan tiger.”
The scenario for tigers on a global level has changed drastically over the past century, said WWF.
At the beginning of the century, it was estimated that there were close to 100,000 tigers roaming in the wild all around the world, but now tigers can only be found in 13 tiger-range countries and Malaysia is one of them.
During the summit in 2010 in Russia, a joint commitment dubbed TX2 was made to double the number of tigers by 2022.
According to Dionysius, it remains as one of the most ambitious and visionary species-conservation goals that have ever been set.
“WWF as a global network continues to support tiger range countries to reach this goal. For the first time in a century, global tiger numbers are increasing. Current numbers are estimated at 3,890 but tigers are still facing the serious threats of poaching and habitat loss, resulting in their decline in South-East Asia.
“Laos, Cambodia and possibly Vietnam are believed to have recently lost all their wild tigers due to the poaching crisis.
“As their forests are being emptied, it is alarming that Indochinese syndicates are entering our very own forests in Malaysia to extract precious resources such as agar wood and wildlife, among them, our tigers.”
Between 2000 and 2015 alone, it is estimated that parts from 103 tigers were seized in Malaysia and in addition, from 2010 to 2013, more than 2,241 poacher traps and 1,728 illegal campsites were found by NGOs working on tiger conservation.
Also present for the event in Meru were Perak Environment Committee Chairman Datuk Dr Muhammad Amin Zakaria, Natural Resources and Environment Ministry Deputy Secretary General Datuk Dr Azimuddin Bahari, Maybank and Maybank Foundation Chairman Datuk Mohaiyani Shamsudin and Maybank Foundation CEO Shahril Azuar Jimin.
Azimuddin said whether we like it or not, we all have to play a part in taking care of our tigers and the ministry is intensifying its efforts to double the number of tigers in the country.
“Wildlife conservation is happening in our country but there are threats that we need to counter.Global Tiger Day is very important because it educates the younger generation. I am glad to see many children here.
“Let’s hope this day would gain momentum in the years to come and help people realise how important tigers are to the ecosystem.”
Children took part in colouring competitions while adults checked out some of the tiger exhibits and photos set in various stations around the roundabout.
There was also a futsal competition in conjunction of the day and several teams showed their skills and prowess.
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