Saturday October 15, 2005
Rangers find tiger parts in fridge
BY IAN MCINTYRE
KOTA BARU: Forest rangers who raided a house in Kampung Mentua, Pengkalan Kubor found a dead tiger – cut up into four parts – in a refrigerator.
The animal, of the protected Malayan Tiger species, is believed to have been shot dead two days ago, after it was trapped.
A 22-year-old Thai was arrested after rangers from the state national wildlife and national parks department, with help from the police, raided the house in Tumpat district, about 60km from here.
The raid was conducted on Thursday, following a tip-off from villagers.
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DESPICABLE ACT: Wildlife rangers with the carcass of the tiger which was found in a refrigerator on Thursday. - STARpic by SAZUKI EMBONG |
Department director Pazil Abdul Patah said the suspect was expected to be charged in court next week.
It is an offence to possess tiger meat and an offender could be jailed up to five years or fined up to RM15,000.
Tiger trafficking is a lucrative black-market trade as body parts of the animal could be processed into traditional medicine in countries such as Thailand and China. Each animal is said to fetch between RM20,000 and RM30,000.
Pazil said there were fewer than 100 Malayan Tigers left in Kelantan, mostly in Jeli, Kuala Krai and Gua Musang today.
“The Malayan Tiger is in danger of becoming extinct; killing the animal for profit is a cruel act,” he told a press conference.
He said they were now investigating whether the suspect had previously hunted tigers here and smuggled them out of the country.
In the last five years, he said rangers had foiled at least eight attempts to hunt down tigers in Kelantan.
Meanwhile, Teoh Teik Hoong reports that WWF-Malaysia executive director Datuk Dr Mikaail Kavanagh Abdullah expressed concern over the hunting and slaying of tigers.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg for wildlife trade. These days, it is more likely that a tiger gets eaten by a human than a tiger eating a man.”
Dr Kavanagh added that more resources were needed to control the slaughter of wildlife.
“Throw the book at everyone involved,” he said.
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