Malaysian state calls for army to kill tigers
Date: 16-Aug-02
Country: MALAYSIA
Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, who is also spiritual leader of Malaysia's opposition Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), said the animals should be shot rather than caught as their upkeep in zoos costs too much.
"I am all for the shooting of the animals rather than using tranquilisers or traps, as these methods will not solve the problem," Nik Aziz was reported as saying in the New Straits Times.
"We have enough tigers," he said. "Other states also have them."
The comments by the often controversial chief minister outraged the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which estimates there are only 500 to 600 tigers left in the wild in Malaysia.
Nik Aziz said the state government was offering to pay the army to hunt down tigers in the Jeli district where all of this year's attacks occurred.
"Rubber tappers and fruit collectors are afraid to enter their estates now. The welfare of tigers cannot be above that of humans. Jeli is no longer a virgin jungle, it is quite well populated," said Nik Aziz, according to The Star daily.
Last month, a tigress believed to have been responsible for the attacks was shot, while her cubs escaped. But another attack in the same district last week, when a rubber tapper escaped with a severe mauling has kept villagers fearful.
The WWF called on the state government to exhaust all other means before resorting to killing the rare beasts, which are a protected species.
"We are shocked and appalled by this news. The proposed slaughter is cruel, inappropriate and unnecessary and illegal under Federal law," WWF Malaysia executive director Mikaail Kavanagh Abdullah said in a statement issued yesterday.
Attacks on humans are usually by old or injured animals, but dwindling forests have brought people and tigers into closer proximity.