A dedication to all rangers on International Ranger Day

(Video produced by MYCAT)

     With speakers working on tiger conservation all over Malaysia, day two of Singapore Tiger Week covered how this conservation can work. We heard from Mr. Christopher Wong, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Malaysia’s Tiger Conservation program manager; Ms. Low Chee Pheng of the Wildlife Conservation Society; Ms. Lam Wai Yee, Panthera Malaysia’s program manager; and Mr. Kennesh Manokaran of the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers.​​

     Day two of Singapore Tiger Week also coincided with World Ranger Day, and the session began with a video honouring the rangers. Rangers are critical to saving tiger lives. We are all indebted to them. On behalf of SWAG, thank you!

     Mr. Christopher Wong detailed the long history of tiger conservation in Malaysia. After reports of tigers attacking humans, the Kelantan local government called for tiger culls in 2002. WWF stepped in to stop the killings. But even afterwards, WWF found threats beyond politicians. Today, tigers must cope with habitat loss and poaching. 2017 saw a poaching surge when WWF found 127 snares. Though patrol teams quintupled in response, in the long term they cannot cover the entire country. Mr. Wong explained both community stewardship and inter-organizational collaboration are critical to the future of tigers.

     Ms. Low Chee Pheng explained how this inter-organizational collaboration can work. Bringing together police, state and federal departments, national parks and NGOs makes for better patrols, the police and Department of Wildlife and National Parks launched the ongoing Ops Khazanah, a series of patrols lasting up to three weeks at a time in 2019. They were enormously effective—they arrested two Cambodians with 167 snares on their first patrol—but long-term feasibility needs a lot of requirements to be met. Long-term funding, on-ground technical specialists, an active secretariat, centralised data management, and, if rangers are to be rotated, regular training programs are all necessary to keep their successes going.

     Ms. Lam Wai Yee dove into how Panthera Malaysia targets poachers. With predictive spatial distribution models based on snare records, their team of experienced trackers, often indigenous people, find poacher camps and alert the authorities. Though camps have shrunk since 2017, they are far from gone. A single camp of four poachers can contain 141 different animal spoils. Consequently, Panthera has additionally focused on removing the incentives that drive people to poach.

     Mr. Kennesh Manokaran trains MYCAT rangers—community volunteers that patrol the jungles—and spotlighted six citizen conservationists in his talk. In an open discussion, they all responded to the question: What would improve organizations dedicated to tiger conservation? Their solutions all addressed the limitations to outreach and manpower. A strong community is imperative within NGOs to “provide hope to nature lovers'' and incentivize a response from policy-makers. Importantly, any community must understand how other social issues connect to conservation——and like the close links between poverty and poaching. In addition, organizations must look to the next generation of leaders. Finally, the CAT Walkers expressed the need to bridge the gap between enthusiasts and experts.

     STW is one way to bridge the gap. We hope you’ve learned about how Malayan tiger conservation works and want to become part of the process, too!