Increase prey species for tigers in the wild, group urges

PETALING JAYA: A conservation group is urging wildlife authorities to focus on increasing prey species for the tigers in the wild, especially in the Endau Rompin region which has seen an escalation of cattle predation by tigers.

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Malaysia Programme country director Dr Mark Rayan Darmaraj said there was a fear that the African swine fever (ASF) had continued to decimate the population of wild pigs and could even cause a localised extinction of the animals.

He said WCS Malaysia, which is in collaboration with the government to monitor tigers in the Endau-Rompin area in Johor, had failed to capture any images of wild pigs on camera traps in recent months.

“There are also reports that tracks of the animals have not been seen in the forest,” said Darmaraj in an interview in conjunction with World Tiger Day on July 29.

“What is really needed now is for us to have a strategy to augment prey in the wild through a combination of improving the food availability conditions in the habitat for prey as well as professionalising the captive breeding of sambar (Rusa unicolor) or even bearded pigs with the intention to increase tiger prey availability and density,” he said.

Peninsular Malaysia, including Endau Rompin, has both wild pigs (Sus scrofa) and the larger bearded pigs (Sus barbatus).

“Not many sites in Peninsular Malaysia have bearded pigs but Endau-Rompin is unique because it has both wild pigs and the larger bearded pigs,” Darmaraj said.

One hypothesis for the sudden escalation of cattle depredation in Endau Rompin being due to tiger prey depletion caused by ASF, he said.The bearded pigs, he added, were an important food source for tigers, particularly in areas where large deer such as sambar were scarce or locally extinct.

“This, to me, represents a potentially major constraint in tiger recovery efforts as less food availability could lead to lower reproductive rates for tigers,” he said.

The reduction of the tigers’ natural prey might have caused the animals to expand their range to look for other sources of food, which increased the likelihood of interaction between cattle and tigers, particularly at the fringes of the forest.

“Cattle are easy prey for tigers and so, it is important that proper animal husbandry practices such as keeping cattle safe in paddocks are practised to reduce the likelihood of attacks,” he said.

WCS Malaysia, added Darmaraj, had been working with the Wildlife and National Parks Department to help alleviate the concerns of the owners whose cattle had been preyed upon by tigers in recent months.

“We recently held several awareness programmes to help the afflicted understand why this conflict is happening, what preventive measures can be taken as well as suggestions on how their cattle can be better protected against predation.

“We have also come up with educational material such as human-tiger conflict posters so that the messaging can reach a wider audience.

“The sudden escalation of cattle depredation is relatively new to the landscape,” he said.

Although isolated from the Main Range-Taman Negara forest complex, the tigers in Endau Rompin, added Darmaraj, represented an ecologically critical sub-population for the nation.

“Efforts from all parties, including government and corporates, should be channelled to support habitat protection, enhancing connectivity and protection from poaching and prey augmentation to ultimately increase tiger numbers to reach carrying capacity.

“Endau Rompin has a substantial population of tigers in view of the nationwide low tiger numbers of less than 150 and should therefore not be sidelined or neglected as part of national tiger recovery efforts,” he said.