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Kylie Knott

As we approach the Year of the Tiger, many people are hoping that 2022 will bring them love, wealth – or both.
Brands have cranked up the tiger-merchandising machine: Marc Jacobs, Coach, Dior and Clinique are among the many labels to have launched tiger-themed accessories and cosmetics to ring in the Lunar New Year.
So did Gucci, although the Italian fashion house has come under fire from animal rights groups for using tigers to promote its collection.
In Hong Kong, jeweller King Fook is honouring the big cat with a gold “Tiger of Fortune” ornament, while Chow Tai Fook has launched gold tiger trinkets.

When will Gucci learn that animals are not props!

Tweet at @gucci and tell them to STOP using wild animals in their ads. pic.twitter.com/QnH7xjtZzS
— PETA (@peta) January 6, 2022

“The auspicious tiger in lively poses and facial expressions spread warm blessings, heralding a fruitful year of success and luck with aureate glitter,” says Chow Tai Fook’s publicity material.
But what of the prospects for tigers in the wild, of which the population across South and East Asia and parts of Russia is estimated at just under 4,000?
Thai tycoon jailed for poaching protected animals in case that angered public
In Malaysia the future of the Malayan tiger, one of six subspecies and the country’s national symbol and emblem of the Royal Malaysia Police, looks grim.
“Poaching and habitat loss remain the biggest and most immediate threats to wild tigers,” says Christopher Wong, who heads the Tiger Conservation Programme at WWF-Malaysia, where the species is a priority conservation target. And with good reason.
Between 2016 and 2020, the wildlife conservation group, Malaysia’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks and other NGOs conducted a survey that found tiger numbers had dwindled to fewer than 150 in the wild. In the 1950s, Malaysia had as many as 3,000.

“Every part of the tiger, from whisker to tail, has been found in illegal wildlife markets,” says Wong. “Their bones and other body parts are used for modern health tonics and folk remedies, and their skins are sought after as status symbols among some Asian cultures.”
The Malayan tiger is classified as critically endangered on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. That means it is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
The battle to protect the species, says Wong, is never-ending. “There are often limited resources for guarding protected areas in countries where tigers live,” says Wong. Tigers can be found in 13 countries, from the Russian Far East to parts of North Korea, China, India and Southwest Asia to the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

“Even countries that strongly enforce tiger protection laws continue to fight a never-ending battle against poaching, which is now often orchestrated by transnational crime syndicates that rake in significant profits from wildlife crime and undermine the security of local communities,” Wong adds.
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a global non-profit which investigates and campaigns against environmental crime and abuse, says the global tiger population has declined by 96 per cent over the past 100 years.
“Transnational organised criminal networks continue to profit from demand for tiger parts and derivatives, primarily in China,” the EIA says.
Tigers need wide swathes of habitat for their survival … Fewer tigers in small, scattered islands of habitat leads to a higher risk of inbreeding
Christopher Wong, Tiger Conservation Programme, WWF-Malaysia
Global non-profit Traffic, which monitors the trade in wild animals and plants, says an average of 124 tigers were killed each year between 2000 and 2018.
“There were a total of 1,142 seizure incidents worldwide. Out of these, 95.1 per cent (or 1,086 incidents) occurred in the 13 Asian tiger range countries, accounting for 2,241 tigers,” according to Traffic’s report, Skin and Bones Unresolved: an Analysis of Tiger Seizures From 2000-2018.
Wong says the impact from the death of a single tiger at the hands of poachers reaches beyond one single loss. “If a female tiger with cubs is killed, her cubs will most likely die without their mother, and the female’s potential for future breeding is lost.”
Wong says WWF-Malaysia’s focus is primarily on in situ conservation – keeping wild animals in their natural ecosystem – and includes anti-poaching patrols, research, wildlife monitoring, advocacy and education.

Habitat loss is a major issue, with tigers globally having already lost an estimated 95 per cent of their historical range, says Wong.
“Large areas of habitat have been destroyed, degraded, and increasingly fragmented by human activities,” he says. The clearing of forests for agriculture and timber, as well as the building of road networks and other development activities, pose serious threats to tiger habitats, he adds.
“Tigers need wide swathes of habitat for their survival since they have large home ranges and are very territorial,” he says, adding it’s been estimated that the roaming area for a male tiger is 300 sq km (115 square miles), and for females 100 sq km.
New threat to African rhinos with horn touted as Covid-19 balm
“Fewer tigers in small, scattered islands of habitat leads to a higher risk of inbreeding. This makes tigers more vulnerable to poaching as they venture beyond protected areas to establish their territories. This underscores the need to ensure habitat connectivity between the protected areas where tigers live.”
Wong says people and tigers are increasingly competing for space. “As forests shrink and prey becomes scarce, tigers may venture into human-dominated areas that lie between habitat fragments, increasing the likelihood of them hunting domestic livestock that many local communities depend on for their livelihood,” he says.
“Local community dependence on forests for fuel wood, food, and timber heightens the risk of human tiger conflict. In retaliation, tigers are sometimes killed or captured where they are likely never to be released into the wild.”
Forget giant pandas – meet China’s lesser-known endangered species
Canine distemper virus, a disease that’s usually found in dogs but is also carried by other small mammals – and which has been reported as a threat to endangered tigers – also needs to be addressed, he says.
“When we stop threatening the resources required for a self-sustaining ecosystem, the coexistence between human and wildlife can be better managed,” says Wong.
“Our goal is to increase the wild tiger population by creating the best possible and safe conditions for tigers to breed. They need large territories with sufficient prey.”


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Lunar New Year

In Year of the Tiger, Malaysia’s tigers face a grim future with poaching and habitat loss pushing them towards extinction

A tiger caught on a camera trap in Malaysia. Since tigers have unique stripes, they can be identified through photographs of their flanks. Photo: WWF-Malaysia

The Year of Tiger may bring luck and fortune to some, but not Malaysia’s critically endangered Malayan tigers. Photo: WWF-Malaysia/ Shariff Mohamad

Christopher Wong adjusts a camera trap in a Malaysian jungle. Photo: WWF-Malaysia/Lau Ching Fong

Tiger bone wine, snake wine and tonics made from lizards on sale in Mongla, a remote town on the border of Myanmar and China. Photo: Getty Images

The destruction of tropical hardwood forests in Malaysia is reducing tigers’ roaming range. Photo: Getty Images

When South China tigers roamed Hong Kong: maulings, devoured livestock, fleeing villagers – author hunts for forgotten stories

South China tigers have not been sighted in Hong Kong since the 1970s, but author John Saeki has discovered that before this there were more sightings than most people may realise. Photo: Reuters

The Tiger Hunters of Tai O, John Saeki

Image from the American Museum Journal, dated January 1919, of missionary Harry Caldwell with a 400lb (181kg) tiger killed with one shot from his rifle.

John Saeki, author of The Tiger Hunters of Tai O, poses for a photograph o Lamma Island, Hong Kong on December 22, 2019. [POST MAGAZINE] CREDIT: Annemarie Evans

***PLEASE CLEAR THE COPYRIGHTS BEFORE REUSE*** Handout image from 1915, a dead tiger in Hong Kong. Police officers pose with a tiger that was shot dead in Sheung Shui, in Hong Kong, in 1915. [POST MAGAZINE]

***COPY PHOTO*** Tam Yee, an employee of the Public Works Department, pointing at what be appeared to be footprint of a tiger at the foot of a hill in Clear Water Bay Road near Cemetery Hill, Kowloon. Flat copy of SCMP page 6 of 30 May, 1955. Photo: Staff Photographer

Blue Tiger, by hunter and photographer, missionary Harry Caldwell

Image from the SCMP archives shows a newspaper cutting dated 19360311 regarding tigers in Hong Kong.[09FEBRUARY2020 FEATURES]CREDIT: SCMP

Chinese demand for durians poses grave threat to ‘critically endangered’ Malayan tigers

A Malayan tiger. Photo: SCMP Pictures

***PAY PER USE. Please re-download from vendor website.*** Alamy ID. C19K4N Durian open in display with yellow flesh on fruit stand in tropical country

Nepal uses thousands of cameras to track wild tigers and finds their numbers are recovering after facing extinction

Thousands of camera traps have helped conservationists track Nepal’s wild tiger population. Photo: AFP

This handout photograph taken by a camera trap on January 2, 2018, and released by Nepal's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) shows Bengal tigers in the Chitwan National Park, some 250 kms south of Nepal's capital Kathmandu. - Thousands of camera traps have helped conservationists track Nepal's wild tiger population, which has nearly doubled in recent years as the big cats claw their way back from the verge of extinction. (Photo by Handout / DNPWC / WWF / AFP) / TO GO WITH AFP STORY ANIMAL-NEPAL-CONSERVATION-TIGER,FOCUS BY PAAVAN MATHEMA -----EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO /Nepal's National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - NO ARCHIVES /

This handout photograph taken by a camera trap on December 31, 2017, and released by Nepal's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) shows Bengal tigers in the Bardia National Park, some 500 kms southwest of Nepal's capital Kathmandu. - Thousands of camera traps have helped conservationists track Nepal's wild tiger population, which has nearly doubled in recent years as the big cats claw their way back from the verge of extinction. (Photo by Handout / DNPWC / WWF / AFP) / TO GO WITH AFP STORY ANIMAL-NEPAL-CONSERVATION-TIGER,FOCUS BY PAAVAN MATHEMA -----EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO /Nepal's National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - NO ARCHIVES /

This handout photograph taken by a camera trap on February 17, 2018, and released by Nepal's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) shows a Bengal tiger in the Shuklaphanta National Park, some 510 kms from Nepal's capital Kathmandu. - Thousands of camera traps have helped conservationists track Nepal's wild tiger population, which has nearly doubled in recent years as the big cats claw their way back from the verge of extinction. (Photo by Handout / DNPWC / WWF / AFP) / TO GO WITH AFP STORY ANIMAL-NEPAL-CONSERVATION-TIGER,FOCUS BY PAAVAN MATHEMA -----EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO /Nepal's National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - NO ARCHIVES /

Lifestyle


The wild population of Malayan tigers in Malaysia continues to shrink because of the combined impact of poaching, loss of habitat and disease
There are fewer than 150 of the critically endangered subspecies left in the wild, and drastic action is required to reverse their decline



As the Year of the Tiger approaches, humans are focused on the prospects for their careers, health and wealth. But what about the prospects for tigers in the wild?


Conservation

Malaysia