WWF-Malaysia has highlighted the urgency of addressing the declining populations of wild boar and Sambar deer in order to create a healthier ecosystem and reduce the need for tigers to come into human areas for food.
The organization released a statement on Monday emphasizing the importance of increasing prey populations for tigers to prevent fatal tiger-human interactions.
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Following the recent tragedies in Pos Pasik, Gua Musang, with three men killed by tiger attacks within a month, WWF-Malaysia has expressed great concern over the close proximity of these incidents.
The report highlighted that the shrinking jungle in the area is partly to blame for the incidents, but also pointed out the inadequate prey species for tigers as a contributing factor.
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On Oct 13, WWF-Malaysia stressed the need to increase the prey population for tigers, noting the decline of Sambar deer and the threat to the boar population from African Swine Fever (ASF).
According to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), the ASF virus, with a mortality rate of up to 100%, affects both domestic and wild pigs, threatening the boar population in Malaysian forests.
“The dire depletion of prey species in Peninsular Malaysia has created an ecological imbalance, forcing tigers to seek alternative food sources for survival, including domestic livestock, which often brings them into conflict with humans,” it said.
The recent tiger attack on a Myanmar national in a rubber plantation in Meranto in Gua Musang, Kelantan, adds to the string of incidents involving human-tiger conflicts.
Previously, an Indonesian rubber tapper was mauled by a tiger in Kuala Wok, near Pos Pasik, and in early October an Orang Asli man was found dead with a leg missing in the Pos Pasik Forest, with claw marks on his head and body.
