Source : The Star, Malaysia, 08 Feb '05
By : Hilary Chiew
  

To drive home the message and prepare this core group for the mission, a five-day workshop was jointly organised by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) at the latter’s Institute of Conservation Biodiversity (ICB) at Bukit Rengit, Pahang, last month.

At the workshop, an environmental education training manual based largely on the society’s experience in tiger conservation in India was introduced to a group of 50.

	A tiger, believed to have mauled a rubber tapper, was killed by Wildlife Department officers in Jeli, Kelantan, in 2002. Conflict between man and tiger has resulted in the beast being shot at, poisoned or captured.

The Teachers for Tigers workshop exposed participants to the threats faced by tigers worldwide and the programmes developed to save the animal.

More importantly, it stressed how the participants could turn around the fate of the tiger.

WCS educational programme director Tom Naiman said communicating the conservation message and changing mindsets would determine the effectiveness of the ongoing battle to halt biodiversity loss.

“There’s growing recognition that education may be the key to long-term conservation. We can have parks and policies but it defeats the purpose if people don’t have the right attitude,” said Naiman, who authored the manual.

The manual tested the workshop participants’ knowledge in various aspects of the wild cat, from its feeding needs to its home range, the number of species and the types of threats.

At the end of the workshop, participants left with newfound confidence and renewed conviction to go out and spread the conservation message.

One participant remarked that he did not realise that tigers were facing the threat of extinction throughout their ranges and that conservationists were trying their best to halt the decline of the species. He said that realisation had made him conscious of the relevance of his enforcement patrols in tiger conservation.

WCS Malaysia programme director Dr Melvin Gumal said that awareness created esprit de corps (feeling of loyalty and pride) among rangers.

“By exposing them to what others are doing elsewhere, they understand that they’re not working in isolation and that gives them the impetus to do better. There are policies and laws for rangers to implement but they lack the mechanism to do so. The communication techniques or methods which they have acquired will enable them to carry out their duties more effectively.”

To capture the audience’s attention and imagination, the environmental education programme was carried out in an interactive manner through games and role-play that got even the most cynical rangers mimicking the roar of tigers and performing cat-stretches.

“If the activities are fun, you can get people excited. They will then be energised and ready to go back, replicate the programme and spread the message,” said Naiman.

ICB director Dr Zaaba Zainol said the rangers were good field staff but needed to learn about the tiger conservation efforts of other countries in order to explore alternative methods of safeguarding the animal.

Abdul Malek Sahak, a ranger familiar with tiger-human conflicts while serving in the tiger unit of Pahang, found that the educational approaches provided by the manual could be easily adapted on the field.

“It’s hard to explain to villagers that we cannot shoot the tiger as it is a totally protected species but what we have learnt here gave us convincing reasons to defend the animal.

Malek, 48, added that rangers could explain to villagers that habitat loss had forced the tigers into their plantations and they have to learn to co-exist with the beasts.

The workshop marks the start of a five-year environmental collaboration between WCS and Perhilitan. The joint effort will bring similar workshops to at least 350 rangers and teachers from wildlife reserves and rural communities living close to critical tiger habitats.