The Star :: Saturday November 17, 2007

TASHA, the four-year-old female Malayan Tiger at Zoo Negara now has something to roar about as private school, Sekolah Sri Kuala Lumpur, has stepped in to become its adoptive parent.  

It was adopted as a replacement for the previously sponsored ‘Mamba’, the Bengal tiger, who now resides in Malacca Zoo.

The school’s director of Othman Merican Education, Rais Abdul Manas presented the RM23,000 sponsorship Malaysian Zoological Society, vice-president and chairman of public affairs and marketing, James E. Bush.  

 
JOVIAL: Four-year-old Tasha in a playful mood.

The money is also for the sponsorship of two mousedeer at the zoo.

Rais said the adoption of Tasha and the mousedeer was apt as both animals were incorporated in the school’s primary and secondary logo.

“Sponsoring is one of the ways to inculcate love and kindness towards animals while bringing children closer to nature.

 
Kind kids: The students from Sekolah Sri Kuala Lumpur with the mock cheque of RM23,000 to sponsor Tasha the Malayan tiger and two mousedeer at the National Zoo.

“We are proud to be part of a conservation effort and we hope to continue our sponsorship, which has increased over the years,” said Rais.

Bush said the zoo was grateful for the school’s continuous sponsorship. “Sri Kuala Lumpur has been our longest-standing sponsors for the past 20 years since they joined the Wildlife Sponsor-ship Scheme in 1987 with one mousedeer.

Apart from being given a guided tour of the zoo, teachers and 30 students from the school also attended an engaging talk on tigers by the Malaysian Conser-vation Alliance for Tigers (MYCAT), programme officer, Suzalinur Manja Bidin.

The talk was a pre-publicity drive for Tiger Day 2007, themed as ‘Race Against Time’, which will take place in December to create awareness and empower the public to take action towards the reduction of threats to tigers.