Here, kitty, kitty: A NWRC tiger keeper making eye contact with Stacy in the cage at the centre in Sungkai, Perak. — Bernama
SUNGKAI: Clutching hatchets, several men chop up slabs of meat and make sure they are cut in the right size – just the way their “wards” would want it.
The meat is then scooped up into a red bin and ready to be fed to the prized denizens of the National Wildlife Rescue Centre (NWRC) here, namely the tigers.
Currently, the sanctuary has 12 Malayan tigers that were either rescued from the jungle after sustaining injuries caused by traps or handed over by zoos.
The Malayan tiger, with its scientific name of Panthera tigris malayensis or Panthera tigris jacksoni, is totally protected under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 and classified as Critically Endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List for Threatened Species.
Land clearing activities and the exploitation of forests have resulted in Malaysia’s wild tiger population dwindling to an estimated 150.
According to tiger keeper Rahmat Rohani @ Abdul Ghani, 51, who has been working at NWRC for 10 years, although the tigers there are fed and cared for, they are also “rewilded” – that is, trained to hunt for food so that they can survive in the wild when released into their original habitat someday.
He said the big cats were fed about 100kg of various types of meat daily, with the quantity of meat consumed by each tiger equivalent to 5% of its body weight.
“They eat once a day at 3pm because that’s when they are most active, but it doesn’t mean they will all eat exactly at that hour,” Rahmat said, adding that the animals were fed beef, processed chicken and frozen meat.
Incidentally, the tigers are fed six days a week and made to fast once weekly to ensure their intestines and digestive system remain healthy.
During the day, the tigers are left to roam in a forest-like park next to their night enclosure, he said, adding that the seven tiger keepers at NWRC only enter the night enclosure to place their food there when all the tigers were outside.
NWRC, which comes under the purview of the Wildlife and National Parks Department and set up under the International Trade in Endangered Species Act 2008 (Act 686), serves as a centre housing endangered wildlife species rescued after sustaining injuries or rescued from smugglers.
Its functions are based on the 3R concept – rescue, rehabilitate and release.
Rahmat, who was a wildlife assistant and tiger keeper at the Melaka Zoo before being transferred to NWRC in 2014, said the 12 tigers are aged between six and 20.
The females are Cindai, Nikki, Zanah, Mek Santung, Chemon and Stacy, while the males are Yeop Tapah, Sungkai, Johny, Jeli, Jay and Dido.
On the “rewilding” process to prepare the ferocious cats to re-enter their natural habitat, Rahmat said the tiger keepers use their own creativity to expose the animals to nature and revive their hunting instincts.
“One way we do this is by placing their food in various parts of their night enclosure. For example, we would hang some meat from the ceiling or hide it behind a banana tree or various types of leaves... this is aimed at stimulating the animals’ sense of smell and prompting them to search for food based on scent,” he explained.
Interestingly, he and his colleagues have managed to use all kinds of foliage such as banana leaves and oil palm fronds to recreate a jungle-like environment inside the night enclosure, which has cement walls and floor.
Sometimes, a few goats are released into the “jungle” to enable the tigers to get used to hunting for their own food. — Bernama
