Citizens Action for Tigers, or “cat” walks, serve the dual purpose of helping authorities track and conserve wildlife populations and enabling participants to enjoy the wonders of nature. Ashleigh Seow takes a “cat” walk on the wild side.

“What about that?” says Shirley, pointing to the deadly trap at the base of a small tree. We turn and look. It is a cunning snare designed to slip over then grip an animal’s neck. The tightened noose chokes the animal by a homemade bungee cord of rubber strips connected to the wire when it tries to escape. The bait is a salt water drip made from a bamboo tube that keeps some fruit moist and salty.

We record the time and location then photograph the trap before Shirley deactivates it and Azura hurls the salt dispenser far into the forest. Had it not been found it could have taken the life of a tapir, wild pig, barking deer or even a tiger. We cut the wire into short useless lengths and scatter it in the forest.

I have joined volunteers on a CAT (Citizens Action for Tigers) walk. It is a “recreational walk with a difference” enabling ordinary people concerned about declining tiger and wildlife populations to actively participate in conservation.

Research shows recreational use of wilderness areas can be beneficial to wildlife in a number of ways. Apart from jobs for guides, spending in local economies, and providing locals with a stake in conservation, the presence of hikers protects wildlife from poaching indirectly. Poachers are disturbed by seeing people around who might notice them and their traps so they move further away. But many are local people and do not travel far. If it becomes inconvenient to do so, some will look to other sources of income.

CAT walks go beyond establishing a presence and deactivating traps. Volunteers also learn to recognise and measure animal tracks and scat (faeces) and record their location. Data is sent to the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (MYCAT). Volunteers who see signs of illegal human activity report through the Wildlife Crime Hotline. Plotting the sites and signs enables MYCAT and the authorities to understand the human and animal activity in the area.

The snare Shirley found led to the discovery of 51 others, some with decomposing carcasses, by Wildlife officers following up. This carnage is not rare. In another area I found a 5km trapline. That’s what is facing wildlife today – not a villager catching dinner but poaching on a near industrial scale.

We head for a rocky outcrop that juts into a lovely small river and have a leisurely picnic, compare impressions and swap stories about places we’ve been. There is enough time for a refreshing dip in the creek and even a short snooze and sun bathing. The Sungai Yu (Yu River) wildlife corridor links the Main Range to Taman Negara National Park like the cross stroke in a capital H. It is a vital route for wildlife, particularly big mammals like elephants, gaur, tigers, bears and tapirs, moving between those two large tiger landscapes (habitats) and also serves as a genetic corridor for their long term survival.

It is however too late for sambar, the largest deer in Malaysia. Due to its highly prized meat, the sambar have virtually disappeared outside the park. Highway 8 from Bentong to Gua Musang runs North- South and development from both directions has left a 12 km wide forest linkage. This might seem like a lot, but effectively it is even narrower as there is sporadic settlement along that stretch and metal railings, steep embankments and wide drains are barriers to many species. The corridor is a choke point conveniently concentrating wildlife for poachers.

Buoyed by our success, we continue walking along the Sungai Yu looking for tracks by the river bank. Since animals have to drink, the soft soil around water sources is an excellent place to observe signs.We do not see any on the bank but several metres away someone finds a cat print. I lay out the rulers in an L - shape and photograph the paw print while another volunteer saves the coordinates to the GPS.We decide the print is too small to be a tiger – it was probably a leopard.

Tracking is exciting work. At a small stream, we see many tracks and our guide explains what happened: at night a moon rat came down to look around and left; two otters walked on the bank then went into the stream; later a monitor lizard came out but some dogs harassed it and it ran back into the water. On another trip, we found the main prize. While following an elephant trail with its unmistakable footprints, we saw tiger tracks and record them. The tracks went on about 4 km and we realised they were also following the elephants’ route to a river. But the track size differed and it seemed there were two tigers, perhaps a mother and her cub. After we handed in our co-ordinates, a MYCAT team installed cameras on that trail and within a few weeks a “new” tiger was photographed. Its stripe pattern did not match any of the tigers already on the database so it was a new arrival. This is good news.

What about risk? We do not want to be eaten by a tiger or fall into a poacher’s trap and get impaled by spikes.These are common misconceptions. A tiger will avoid us and will dash into the jungle, especially during the day; noisy people are intimidating. So far volunteers have been attacked by wildlife only once - by wasps.

The snares we find are variants of the simple noose and are not set on human paths but near the intersection with game trails.They are also quite obvious to another human since the poacher also needs to find them.They are designed to snare a paw or a neck and, in the latter case, the noose is no higher than knee height, and none of us are crawling around the jungle on all fours anyway. Pit or box traps are labour intensive compared to snares (how many deep pits could you dig in a day?).There is also no need to fear battering rams or nets that lift you upside down into the trees like in the movies! MYCAT does not seek adversarial relations with villagers. It is looking for more volunteers for its Outreach programmes with communities and schools recognising that a “poacher-turned-gamekeeper” strategy is the best way to eliminate the problem.This is their most successful programme and their presence at local markets has been invaluable in finding supporters and useful intelligence on poaching activity.

Besides the CAT walks, MYCAT also conducts Trailblazer – a 5-day boundary trek in Taman Negara to check the boundary markers of the park, clear an inspection path and look out for illegal entrance sites.This is a tougher, but immensely rewarding, undertaking done with Wildlife Department officers. CAT walks are a way to wander the forests and streams, not as a tourist, but as a contributor to the conservation of wildlife by helping to monitor the tiger population. It’s not all work as the walks combine recreational activities like bird watching, trekking, camping or visiting caves as well. It is also great fun and a chance to meet new friends or bond again with the old one- Mother Nature.

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Note: Those interested should contact MYCAT at mycat.so@malayantiger.net,
find them at www.facebook.com/themalayantiger or visit www.malayantiger.net