Making sure the Malayan tiger keeps burning bright

An image of a Malayan tiger caught on a camera trap. Based on camera trapping surveys conducted from 2016 to 2020 throughout Peninsular Malaysia, there are fewer than 150 Malayan tigers in the wild, down from between 250 and 340 individuals about a decade ago. — Wildlife Conservation Society Malaysia

WHILE the Malayan tiger population in some areas such as Endau-Rompin in Johor is showing signs of stabilising after dipping in previous years, their overall numbers in the wild continue to hang in the balance.

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Malaysia Programme country director Dr Mark Rayan Darmaraj says it is hard to determine how the animal is faring at the national level without having assessed the latest figures from all sites where the species is found.