Another Fatal Tiger Attack In Kelantan

The victim died from severe head injuries that resulted from the attack.

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A man has passed away after being mauled by a tiger at a rubber plantation in Kelantan. The victim, Ahka Soe Ya, who was a Myanmar national, was attacked by the animal while tapping rubber with his wife on the plantation last Saturday.

According to district police chief Sik Choon Foo, the victim was severely bleeding from the back of his neck. He was then taken to the hospital by his wife and friends, after seeking help from a man at the plantation’s log inspection site.

Unfortunately, the victim did not make it following his treatment at the hospital.

“The hospital confirmed the victim’s death following emergency treatment. The autopsy results indicated that the cause of death was severe head injuries due to a tiger attack,” said Sik Choon Foo.

Further investigation has since been carried out by the authorities.

Sik confirmed that the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) would continue to tackle the issue. For one, they plan to install cameras and traps to detect and capture the wild animal.

This, sadly, is not the first attack to have been reported. Just a few days ago, the remains of an Indonesian man were discovered in a rubber plantation in Kampung Meranto, Kelantan.

He was said to have also been attacked as he was found in an incomplete state by the police. The police indeed found fragments of his leg 500 meters away from where they found the victim.

And other parts of his body and his leg were also found later about 300 meters from the area. The victim’s name was Lalu Sukarya Yahya.

Why is this happening?

Well, WWF- Malaysia theorises that these incidents are a result of the decline in the local wild boar and Sambar deer population. They alleged that the tigers have been venturing into local settlements to seek food resources.

“The proximity of the incidents, with the most recent occurring less than 48 hours after the previous one, raises great concern.

“While the Kelantan Perhilitan partially attributes these occurrences to the ‘shrinking’ of the jungle, it is crucial to acknowledge the additional factor of insufficient prey species for tigers, contributing to the rise in fatal tiger-human interactions on the peninsula,” said the organisation.

The local wild boars are said to have decreased due to the outbreak of the African Swine Fever (ASF) in 2021. The disease reportedly threatened the species’ survival in the Malaysian forests.

It also does not help that the Sambar deer population has been declining over the years.

“The dire depletion of prey species in Peninsular Malaysia has created an ecological imbalance, forcing tigers to seek alternative food sources for survival, including domestic livestock, which often brings them into conflict with humans,” added Perhilitan.

As such, they have since stressed the need to increase the prey population for the tigers in order to prevent more human casualties.

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