Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society/Volume 85/A Tiger at Sea
A Tiger at Sea.
Instances of Tigers swimming across wide rivers or narrow straits are common enough. Tigers are still found occasionally on the island of Singapore where they have arrived from Johore after a swim of one to two miles across the Straits. The following note however of a much longer swim is perhaps worthy of record.
Mr. G. O. Dorrity of Trengganu, to whom I am indebted for the information, obtained the story from an old Malay fisherman in Kelantan some eight years ago. The local fishing fleet was proceeding out to the fishing grounds one night from the coast of Kelantan when a dark object was observed moving about on the surface of the water. The position given was midway between the Perhentian Islands and the mainland, i.e. about five miles from the mainland: the total distance between the mainland and the nearest island of the group is eleven miles. On a closer inspection the object was discovered to be a full grown tiger and evidently in some distress. A pukat (seine-net) was thrown over it and the animal, entangled in the mesh, was towed behind a boat until drowned.
It seems impossible to credit this tiger with the deliberate intention of swimming out ten miles to a small group of islands which he could hardly see from the mainland. Probably he was accidentally swept out to sea when attempting perhaps to cross a river at the mouth.