It was a sad day for nature really. A pregnant tiger was killed when a car rammed into the poor animal at Lebuhraya Pantai Timur (an expressway linking Kuala Lumpur to the east coast states) recently.
An autopsy showed it was carrying two cubs. Condolences also to the person who knocked into the magnificent creature. It must have been a heart wrenching experience for him too, never mind the extensive damage the MPV suffered.
The story reminds me of a wonderful experience I had in Malacca many years ago. I was attached to the Malacca bureau and one day a friend told me a man was keeping a tiger cub and a bear at home, apparently to train them to get acquainted with human.
I approached the man and told him I wanted to write about his experience in handling the animals. Fearing for repercussions, he was naturally reluctant but I managed to convince him.
I grew attached to the animals as I waited for a photographer from KL to assist me as I visited them almost daily to play with them.
Both were playful, but the tiger cub was especially naughty, and can be quite rough as I wrestle with him on the floor.
The bear was more subdued but I love the cat.
The house was sparse, no furniture as they clawed and scratched all over. It was a bungalow with ample space outside too.
When Saleh Osman arrived, the interview was done and there were photo sessions. The article was published in the Lifestyle section of the New Straits Times.
Then I was posted to the headquarters as a reporter with The Malay Mail (a then sister publication of the NST).
Several months later, an NST news editor came over to my desk and said "Your tiger was "detained" as it has clawed a neighbour's maid".
I was stunned. Later I was told the tiger which was playing in the garden had jumped into the neighbour's compound and scared the woman by touching her shoulder. She in turn slapped the tiger's face and the tiger must have slapped her back!
She screamed for help and police and the forest rangers came to pick up the tiger and sent him to the Malacca Zoo.
A few years later, when I visited the Zoo (it was my favourite pastime visiting zoos then), I asked the keeper which one was it. I came over to the fence and there he was, in all his stride and manificence, came to rub his body against the fence.
He remembered! Too bad I was not allowed to come close as I would have hugged him tight. Don't know if he is still alive but the memories came flooding after reading about the tiger which was killed in an expressway accident.
Her partner would have longed for her and the cubs would have grown into beautiful creatures roaming the jungle which has been reduced to size due to development.
An autopsy showed it was carrying two cubs. Condolences also to the person who knocked into the magnificent creature. It must have been a heart wrenching experience for him too, never mind the extensive damage the MPV suffered.
The story reminds me of a wonderful experience I had in Malacca many years ago. I was attached to the Malacca bureau and one day a friend told me a man was keeping a tiger cub and a bear at home, apparently to train them to get acquainted with human.
I approached the man and told him I wanted to write about his experience in handling the animals. Fearing for repercussions, he was naturally reluctant but I managed to convince him.
I grew attached to the animals as I waited for a photographer from KL to assist me as I visited them almost daily to play with them.
Both were playful, but the tiger cub was especially naughty, and can be quite rough as I wrestle with him on the floor.
The bear was more subdued but I love the cat.
The house was sparse, no furniture as they clawed and scratched all over. It was a bungalow with ample space outside too.
When Saleh Osman arrived, the interview was done and there were photo sessions. The article was published in the Lifestyle section of the New Straits Times.
Then I was posted to the headquarters as a reporter with The Malay Mail (a then sister publication of the NST).
Several months later, an NST news editor came over to my desk and said "Your tiger was "detained" as it has clawed a neighbour's maid".
I was stunned. Later I was told the tiger which was playing in the garden had jumped into the neighbour's compound and scared the woman by touching her shoulder. She in turn slapped the tiger's face and the tiger must have slapped her back!
She screamed for help and police and the forest rangers came to pick up the tiger and sent him to the Malacca Zoo.
A few years later, when I visited the Zoo (it was my favourite pastime visiting zoos then), I asked the keeper which one was it. I came over to the fence and there he was, in all his stride and manificence, came to rub his body against the fence.
He remembered! Too bad I was not allowed to come close as I would have hugged him tight. Don't know if he is still alive but the memories came flooding after reading about the tiger which was killed in an expressway accident.
Her partner would have longed for her and the cubs would have grown into beautiful creatures roaming the jungle which has been reduced to size due to development.
