‘Give him a ride’: Malayan tiger spotted swimming across lake in Perak sparks excitement

A video of a rare Malayan tiger swimming across a lake in Perak sparked excitement among netizens recently.

Thrilled park rangers were cheering at seeing the tiger in a 37-second video clip shared on the Facebook page of Perak State Parks Corporation on Nov 1.

In the video, which was reportedly filmed at the Royal Belum State Park, a 117,500ha park in the north of the state that borders Thailand, an adult tiger is seen swimming gracefully in the rain before reaching the shore and disappearing into the thick jungle.

Netizen Shafiq Shawal, commenting on the post, wrote: “Why not give him a ride? Poor (tiger), he is tired of swimming.”

The park replied with a tongue-in-cheek response, saying that if the tiger were to ride on the boat, then the rangers would have to swim.

The park also clarified in a comment that the rangers in the video are part of an anti-poaching patrol team who have helped to achieve “zero snares” in 2024 and up to the date of the posting.

In its post, it added that more than 120 rangers and field officers work full time to “protect wildlife treasures” in the park. According to the Malaysian Tourism Board website, the Royal Belum State Park is one of the world’s oldest rainforests, and is home to 14 of the most threatened mammals in the world, including the Malayan sun bear, Malayan tiger, white-handed gibbon and Indian elephant.

There were fewer than 150 wild Malayan tigers as at Oct 13, according to World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), one of the world’s largest conservation organisations.

The species is now totally protected under Malaysia’s Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 and is classified as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, which assesses the risk of extinction for species worldwide.

WWF said that Malaysia’s national animal could “vanish within our lifetime”.