Motorists agog as tiger takes a stroll on highway
Wildlife department staff sent to check after two videos make the rounds on social media.
The Terengganu Department of Wildlife and National Park (Perhilitan) director, Dr Abdul Malek Mohd Yusof confirmed that it had received a report regarding the presence of a tiger at 11.30am today.
“Perhilitan staff have been to the location and the process of capturing the tiger is being carried out,” he said when contacted by Bernama today.
Two videos, each lasting more than a minute, went viral on Facebook when the ‘Pak Belang’ (the striped animal) was recorded in the middle of the highway in Hulu Dungun.
Abdul Malek said the department was still investigating the cause of the tiger’s presence and hoping that the public would not disseminate any false information.
The Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris malayensis) has been classified as “critically endangered” with an extremely high chance of going extinct, with less than 200 left in the wild.
The roadside sighting is the third such incident known to have happened in Terengganu.
Stay current - Follow FMT on WhatsApp, Google news and Telegram
In February 2016, a tiger died after being hit by a vehicle on the East Coast Highway. In November 2018, a black panther died after being hit by a car at Kilometer 356, near Dungun, Terengganu.