Several tigers have shown up near some Orang Asli villages in Kelantan in the past few weeks.
Netizens were saying that the appearance of the tigers are due to their habitat getting destroyed by excessive logging activities but the Kelantan Forestry Department has denied it.
The director of the forestry department, Abdul Khalim Abu Samah has said that the claims are untrue and logging in Kelantan is still in a controllable range, reported Harian Metro.
“Those of us at Kelantan always abide by the Annual Cut Ration (CTT) that was set by the National Land Council. We will not go over the set rate which is 3,900 hectares per year.”
“The logging is also only done in permanent forest reserves (production) and not permanent forest reserves (protection). So, the presence of tigers has nothing to do with logging.”
Other than that, the director has also said that logging is actually good for the tiger population, based on a study.
“Based on research, the effects of logging can cause small young plants to grow which will attract preys for the tiger to hunt easily.”
We were unable to find the exact paper that the director mentioned but we found one by Dale Miquelle, a known conservation researcher that was on Amur tigers, namely the Siberian tigers.
The 23-year-old paper does say that Siberian tigers do tend to go to areas that are selectively logged to hunt prey.
But if we think about it, the keyword is selective, meaning that it is purposeful and planned.
We’re not sure if selective can be applied to how logging is done in Malaysia but we hope that it is.
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments.
Also read: Drone Shot Showcases Heavy Logging In Kelantan, Area Where Numerous Tigers Have Been Spotted
