KUALA LUMPUR: Residents of Pos Banun in the Jeli-Gerik border area had reported seeing tiger tracks near the Orang Asli villages in Kampung Cadat, Kampung Raba, Kampung Desa Ria, Kampung Kabel and Kampung Banun since April.
They had no actual sightings of the animal, but reported that over the past few months, their pet dogs and cats have mysteriously disappeared, possibly eaten by the very same tiger that mauled and killed two men in separate incidents last week.
Malaysian Nature Society executive director I.S. Shanmugaraj, who visited both attack scenes and residents of Pos Banun yesterday, said the government should consider reintroducing food sources for animals roaming in the wild.
This, he said, would be an immediate measure to prevent recurrences of attacks on humans, as well as part of conservation efforts for the wildlife themselves.
"Based on the information MNS gathered from the Jahai and Temiar tribes living about 20km away from the scenes of the attacks, there has been a food chain disruption as wild boars around there seem to have suddenly gone missing.
"Until early this year, villagers said you can still see a few wild boars running around in the forest area, but now there are none left and this might have triggered the tiger to venture further, to the Orang Asli villages," said Shanmugaraj.
He said although it has yet to be confirmed by the authorities whether both attacks are by the same tiger, the fact that they occurred not far from each other should be taken into consideration.
"The location where the tiger was captured strongly indicates that it had returned to the scene for food.
"MNS strongly proposes that the government reintroduces raring deer in Orang Asli villages, so that they can multiply and be released into the wild, as a food source for big cats," he said.
Shanmugaraj said the disruption of the food chain could have a disastrous impact on the ecosystem, even to the point of causing wildlife to go extinct.
"We can't blame the tiger because we encroached into its habitat first," he said.