Your gift could fund a ranger to patrol forests and remove lethal snares
Tapirs are the needless victims of snares that weren’t even intended for them.
For tens of millions of years, tapirs have roamed the forests of Southeast Asia, feasting on plants and staying out of trouble.
But sadly, these harmless creatures have become caught in the crossfire of the merciless poaching onslaught of the tigers that share their home.
As a result, there are now fewer than 2,500 Malayan tapirs left on the planet. Please donate now and help us protect these innocent animals.
£95
Could help purchase a GPS kit, allowing rangers to coordinate patrols and ensure they sweep the entire area.
Hem Manita / Fauna & Flora
£45
Could buy a pair of boots for a ranger - replacing those worn out by countless miles of patrolling.
£30
Could help provide the local team with a hammock and sleeping bag - allowing them to sleep out safely off the forest floor when on missions.
© Edy Susanto / Fauna & Flora International
£10
Could provide a ranger team with a week's rations - helping them stay on the move and clear more snares.
Why are tapirs under threat?
Being nocturnal, tapirs have excellent hearing but terrible eyesight. This means it’s all too easy for them to stumble into snares that tiger poachers have set.
As they struggle for freedom from the vicious jaws of snares, they only become more wounded; these traps are designed to be inescapable.
To add insult to injury, tapirs have little value to poachers – their meat is considered forbidden by most local people. This means that when poachers find a tapir caught in their snares, they simply discard it. It’s all for nothing.
As well as the threat of snares, the tapirs’ forest habitat is also being cleared rapidly to allow for the expansion of oil palm plantations and illegal logging for timber.
Roads that are being built to allow these loggers access to the forest are cutting straight through tapir habitat, causing more and more tapirs to wander onto deadly roads and end up as roadkill.
Tapirs fall victim to snares that are set for poaching tigers. Tapir meat is barely ever eaten, and the whole practice is a tragic waste of life.
How is Fauna & Flora helping tapirs?
Fauna & Flora has provided training for hundreds of dedicated forest rangers and law enforcement officers who conduct anti-poaching forest patrols and remove snares.
If rangers encounter a tapir caught in snare traps, they are trained to carefully attempt to free the tapir without causing it further harm or distress.
We also work closely with the local community, who help us by providing key information about trafficking networks that can lead to the prosecution of poachers and illegal wildlife traders.
But there is much more that needs to be done to give tapirs a chance to recover.
We need to get more rangers out into the field to carry out life-saving snare removal, and carry out essential population monitoring using surveys and camera traps that will inform our methods of protecting tapirs.
How can I help save tapirs?
Your donation could help train and equip more rangers to patrol the forests and remove snares.
You could provide the technology such as mobile phones, radios and GPS that rangers need to navigate the hazardous forest safely.
Your support could also provide the camping gear, backpacks and uniforms they need to do their jobs, and vital first aid in case of emergency.
These brave rangers work in extremely dangerous conditions to protect tapirs; the least we can do is provide them with the equipment that they need. So please donate now.
Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus) calf. The calf has a patterned coat - an adaptation for forest camouflage.
Why Fauna & Flora?
Our expert teams of rangers have removed thousands of snares from the forests that tapirs call home, saving countless tapirs and other forest dwellers from a gruesome fate.
In 2022 these dedicated rangers were presented with IUCN-WCPA International Ranger of the Year awards in recognition of their contribution to conservation.
We’ve got the very best people on our team, but we need your support to get results.
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