Article: Let’s save our tigers; Leave them in the forests

Sunday March 22, 2009

The Star Says

JUST scrap this inept idea. There are other ways of bringing the roar back to Penang besides creating a tiger park.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s proposal to create such a park on 40ha of land owned by the Penang Municipal Council in Relau certainly doesn’t fit the description of an eco-tourism project.

The plan has drawn flak from wildlife experts, conservationists and locals. They know better that the rightful place for the majestic animal is in our shrinking forests, not in an artificial habitat near highly populated urban areas.

It has been the CM’s propensity to initiate slogans with the acronym of CAT – Competency, Accountability and Transparency, Central Area Transit, and Career Assistance & Training. This big cat, however, should be best left out of ideas to boost the state’s tourism.

Perhaps, the CM should instead think FAST – Food, Arts, Sea and Traditions – areas in which Penang has enough attractions that can be developed further.

The Pearl of the Orient has already won its culinary credentials. It is a gastronomic destination among top-market travellers, tour groups and back-backers besides domestic tourists hooked on its delectable hawker fare.

Penang is also rich in the arts, with a wide range of museums, galleries, libraries, exhibition halls and colourful performances, including its indigenous boria.

Besides the island’s scenic beaches of Tanjung Bungah, Batu Ferringhi and Teluk Bahang, which can use some cleaning-up, easier access should be provided to better ones located along the secluded northwestern coast.

The island’s unique traditions and rich multi-cultural heritage are certainly big draws now that Georgetown has been given a huge tourism advantage through its listing as a World Heritage Site together with Malacca.

But if eco-tourism is indeed the focus, the CM should look at existing areas to improve and promote, like the bio-diversity rich Pantai Aceh National Park, Pulau Jerejak or even Penang Hill.

The idea of confining endangered wild animals in enclosures is passe and regarded as another wanton exploitation of wildlife.

Unlike conservation forest reserves where free roaming animals are kept after being captured for their protection, tiger parks, like the one being planned in Penang, are grossly inappropriate for a species whose natural habitat covers a huge range.

So let’s leave our tigers in the forest.

This article was taken from: The Star Online: Nation 22 March 2009