While the teams continue to carry out intensive patrolling to ensure that threats are exterminated to provide a conducive environment for the Malayan tiger, other efforts are being put in place to ensure that the needs of the tigers are being taken care of; one of the initiatives is to increase prey base.
This is crucial to supplement food sources for the current and increasing tiger population in Belum-Temengor Forest Complex, one of the priority sites for tiger conservation in Peninsular Malaysia. Within this priority site in the north of the state of Perak is the Royal Belum State Park (RBSP), managed by Perak State Parks Corporation (PSPC).
In October 2021, under a pilot prey augmentation programme by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN) in collaboration with PSPC and WWF-Malaysia, ten Sambar deer from Sungkai Wildlife Conservation Centre in Perak were released into an area in Sungai Tiang of RBSP. The Sambar deer that were released included 5 females and 5 males. Four of the males and two females were fitted with radio collars for monitoring.
In August 2022, eight more Sambar deer, consisting of 3 males and 5 females were released. Five were radio collared. There are also plans to conduct a field visit in the near future to learn about prey augmentation programme in Mae Wong National Park by WWF-Thailand.
