Project Harimau Selamanya focuses on the delineation, protection and monitoring of the Malayan Tiger Panthera tigris jacksoni (‘Harimau Belang’ in Malay) within a “Core Area” that encompasses the Kenyir Wildlife Corridor and the northeastern part of Taman Negara.

This project is jointly funded by Woodlands Park Zoo and Panthera from USA, who committed USD 1 million for this project over the next 10 years. The Core Area will be monitored and protected by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) and local partners to ensure tigers continue to breed and increase. Ultimately, this project aims to not only maintain the long-term survival of tiger populations, but also of two other threatened big cat species: the Leopard Panthera pardus and Clouded Leopard Neofelis nebulosa.

In addition, this project will provide important ecological and conservation information on other mammal species in the area. The Principal Investigator of this project is Assoc. Prof. Gopalasamy Reuben Clements from IPK, who will work with researchers from DWNP and his non-profit research group known as Rimba to obtain a baseline population density estimate of tigers and other wildcats in the Core Area. Such baselines estimates need to be urgently obtained in order to monitor the effectiveness of management interventions within the Core Area.

The first population density estimates for the Leopard and Clouded Leopard have already been obtained in Kenyir. Now, the project turns to the tiger and 200 camera traps are currently being deployed by researchers in Rimba to detect tigers and other large mammals in the Core Area until September 2014. Interested graduates from UMT who want to work for this project can contact Reuben at reuben@myrimba.org. Updates from this project can also be followed on the Rimba webpage (www.myrimba.org).