Hobbies And Interests
Logging
Logging has reduced the habitat of the Malayan tiger. Malayan tigers live in tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests. Logging takes away the tigers' nesting grounds, reduces their food source and forces them into areas that they are not accustomed to. Logging also requires extensive road development over a large area and the use of heavy machinery, which adds to the destruction and disruption of the forest. In 2010, there were 80 cases of illegal logging. The Natural Resources and Environment Minister has said that illegal logging negatively affects the Malaysian government's goal to have 1,000 tigers in the central forest spine, an area of linked forests along the peninsula, by 2020.
Farmland
The conversion of forest into farmland has also contributed to the Malayan tiger's population drop. Increasing amounts of forest land are being used for small-scale farming activities by peasants and commercial plantations, thereby reducing the Malayan tiger's habitat and food sources. Trees in the forest are being cut for fuel wood, fodder and timber by communities that move near the tiger habitats. Human encroachment into forests populated with tigers means that humans and their accompanying livestock are competing with tigers over space and food.
Killing and Capture
The loss of habitat and encroachment of human development means that Malayan tigers are coming in contact with humans and their livestock on a more frequent basis. Farmers whose livestock are killed by Malayan tigers sometimes have a lot of animosity toward the tigers. It is estimated that in Terengganu, one of Malaysia's poorest states, farmers lost an estimated $400,000 from 1993 to 2003 because of livestock killed by Malayan tigers. The Malayan tigers are sometimes killed by angry farmers and authorities in retaliation. Some tigers are instead captured and put in zoos.
Poaching
Poaching is another threat to the Malayan tiger's survival. Tiger body parts are used in traditional medicine in some cultures. Tiger bones, for example, have been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 1,000 years. Tiger claws, teeth and whiskers are also in demand in the black market, as some people believe they provide protective powers and good luck. Despite a 1987 ban on the international commercial sale of tiger parts under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and despite China's 1993 tiger trade ban, poachers are still killing tigers and selling their parts on the black market. A report from the wildlife monitoring group TRAFFIC found that more than 1,000 tiger parts were seized between 2000 and 2010.