KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian wildlife and political groups reacted with outrage on Thursday (Sep 18) after the carcass of a critically endangered Malayan tiger was discovered in the back of a car, leading to the arrest of three suspects.

The dead animal was uncovered when wildlife authorities searched a car at the hamlet of Felda Tenggaroh in Johor state, about 380km southeast of Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

Three men between the ages of 28 and 49 were arrested after they failed to show special permits allowing them to possess the dead animal.

The tiger, whose sex was unknown, had been snared and shot six times in the head, news reports said.

Malayan tigers are critically endangered, and fewer than 150 of the animals - the Southeast Asian nation's national symbol - remain in the wild.

"We are outraged that despite the tireless efforts and sacrifices of rangers, poachers still brazenly destroy this majestic species for fleeting gain," WWF-Malaysia said in a statement to AFP.

It called for the stiffest sentences if the perpetrators were convicted, "sending an unmistakable message that Malaysia will not tolerate the killing of its most endangered species".

Tiger Protection Society of Malaysia Lara Araffin said the killing "demanded the harshest sentence".

"Tigers are apex predators that keep our rainforests in balance," she told AFP, asking, "Do we really want a Malaysia without them?"

The incident, widely covered by local Malaysian papers, "was deeply distressing and has sparked outrage across the country", said the Malaysian Chinese Association, one of the ruling coalition's political parties.

"The poaching of the Malayan tiger, already a critically endangered species, is a direct assault on decades of conservation efforts," the MCA's Youth Wing said in a statement.

The Malayan tiger is classified as critically endangered by protection group the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Killing or possessing a tiger carries a penalty of up to RM1 million (US$238,000) and up to 15 years in prison.

About 3,000 Malayan tigers once roamed the country's jungles in the 1950s.

But its population has declined over the decades due to a loss of habitat from development and agricultural expansion, as well as poaching.

"To Malaysians, the Malayan tiger is more than a species - it is a national symbol ... Losing it would mean losing part of who we are as Malaysians," the WWF-Malaysia said.

Tiger carcass in car boot sparks outrage in Malaysia