The people have given their views on the Penang state government’s proposal to set up a Tiger Park and some of their views are constructive, coming from conservation groups such as the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers, Sahabat Alam Malaysia and WWF-Malaysia, said Penang Gerakan treasurer Ng Fook On in a statement.
And yet Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng on Tuesday lashed out at the critics, saying their objections should be substantiated with facts and not just emotions, Ng said.
For instance, the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers said Malaysia already had 40 zoos and that maintaining them was posing a challenge to authorities.
It said the number of tigers in Malaysia had fallen from 3,000 to 500 in the last 50 years and also pointed to the expense of maintaining tigers in captivity.
WWF-Malaysia had said the issue of procuring tigers for the proposed park was problematic.
“Wild tigers cannot be removed from their natural habitat as they are protected under the Protection of Wild Life Act,” said Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma, WWF-Malaysia’s chief executive officer.
Ng said even Lim’s Chief of Staff, Jeff Ooi, seemed to have reservation in his blog over the proposed project.
Ng, who is also a spokesman for the Penang Gerakan Cat Watch, said when Lim made the proposal about a month ago, he had asked for public views but now when the people gave their views, instead of thanking them, he was unhappy.
Ng also referred to an incident in Thailand in 2004 when 23 tigers died from bird flu at a private zoo in Thailand after being fed the carcasses of chickens infected with the disease.
Lim had announced that the state government planned to create a tiger park on a 40ha plot owned by the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) known as the Pondok Durian Cap Kaki, which is near the Relau Metropolitan Park.