JOHOR BARU: A tiger seen eating a cow in a viral video is not the same animal as the one believed to have mauled livestock in Felda Ulu Tebrau, says the Johor Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan).
“It is not the same tiger that we are searching for in Felda Ulu Tebrau here, as the video is from Indonesia,” the department’s director, Aminuddin Jamin, said.
He added that Perhilitan, universities and wildlife non-governmental groups have not put up cameras in Felda Ulu Tebrau to capture the tiger’s image.
On efforts to track down the tiger, Aminuddin said Perhilitan believed that the animal might have returned to the forest in Kota Tinggi.
He said this was because Perhilitan has been searching the area without finding any new physical evidence of the tiger.
“The tiger tracks found in Felda Ulu Tebrau are from about a month ago, while there has been no fresh kill.
“With this in mind, we have reasons to believe that the tiger has returned to its natural habitat, which is the jungle.
“However, Perhilitan will continue to search, including installing cameras at locations within Felda Ulu Tebrau, to make certain that the tiger has left the area for good,” he said when contacted here yesterday.
The video, which went viral on social media, was even shared by Tebrau MP Jimmy Puah Wee Tse on his Instagram account.
When contacted, Puah said he had since taken down the video, adding that he would be meeting with Felda Ulu Tebrau management as the area was under his constituency.
“The settlers are still fearful about the tiger’s presence in the area so hopefully, we can come up with a proper solution,” he said.
On Saturday, the tiger’s presence in Felda Ulu Tebrau – the first tiger seen there in almost 60 years – had settlers worried about their safety.
Over the past two weeks, three cows were believed to have been mauled by the predator within the Felda settlement.
