Good homes sought for cramped Malaysian tigers
Date: 22-Oct-02
Country: MALAYSIA
With only around 6,000 tigers left worldwide, Malacca Zoo is hoping safari parks and zoos abroad will want to take some of the endangered species, a Malaysian national symbol, off its hands.
The 18 animals are being held in cramped cages, due to lack of space and fear that they will fight if kept together.
"We can't release them into bigger enclosures as the tiger population at this zoo has increased dramatically this year," zoo director Mohd Nawayai Yasak was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.
So far Malacca has received offers from Munich in Germany and Yangon in Myanmar, but other Malaysian zoos are unable to help out.
The World Wide Fund for Nature estimates there are between 500 and 600 tigers in Malaysia, where dwindling forests have brought the animals into dangerously close proximity with humans.
In August, the Malaysian army was called in to the northeast state of Kelantan to hunt and kill tigers after three villagers were mauled to death.
