Tapir captured after two hours

Malacca Zoo workers and Perhilitan personnel pulling the captured tapir out of the pond at Bukit Katil, Malacca, yesterday. Pic by Mohd Jamah Nasri

MALACCA: A 200kg male tapir caused a ruckus as it led local authorities and residents of Kampung Tun Razak, near here, through a merry chase yesterday.The state Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) received a complaint on Tuesday night from a resident who had spotted the tapir wandering around the village.

Worried for the safety of the public, Perhilitan sent a team to capture the animal. At 2pm yesterday, the team came across the  tapir in a pond at a wooded area across from the  Bukit Katil's Fire and Rescue Department.

The team  surrounded the tapir,  but it evaded several attempts to capture it. Escaping from the pond, the tapir ran about 300m through a housing estate. Despite being hit by a  tranquilliser dart, it continued running before falling into another pond nearby where the team finally managed to capture the animal.

Malacca Zoo director Ahmad Azhar Mohammed said it took about 25 people -- 15 from the zoo and 10 from Perhilitan -- nearly two hours to catch the tapir.

Source: nst.com.my

Day’s jail and RM100,000 fine for pangolin traders

BUTTERWORTH: Two businessmen were jailed a day and fined RM100,000 each by the Sessions Court here for illegal possession of pangolins.

Ang Kean Tat, 24, from Taman Melati off Jalan Raja Uda here, and Khor Kim Seah, 41, from Kampung Selamat, Tasek Gelugor, paid the fines and served the jail term at the lockup of the court complex.

Ang was fined RM100,000 whereas Khor, who faced two charges, was fined RM50,000 for each offence.

Ang was on trial for possessing 45 pangolins without a special permit in a modified vehicle at a premises in Mukim 16, Jalan Sungai Dua on Feb 24 last year.

Khor was charged with two counts of possessing 28 pangolins at the premises and 62 pangolins in a modified Proton Iswara at the same place and time. They were charged under Section 28(2)(a) of the Wildlife Conservation Act, which carries a fine of between RM50,000 and RM100,000 or a maximum jail term of three years, or both upon conviction.

Deputy public prosecutor Nurdeenie Abdul Rashid said possessing protected wildlife was a serious offence and asked Sessions judge Ikmal Hishan Mohd Tajuddin to impose a sentence that would serve as a lesson to others.

Defence counsel Sudesh Singh, in mitigation, asked the court to be lenient towards the accused and impose a fine and not a jail term. He said the accused were first offenders and that Ang was living with his elderly mother and Khor too had an elderly mother and family to look after.

 Resource:  The Star

Big Law for Small Elephants

Elephants may be big, but that does not make them immune to the cruelties of illegal hunters and poachers

Good news for nature lovers, and about time, too!

It was recently reported that those who kill Borneo elephants will now face a mandatory jail term as part of Sabah’s efforts to upgrade its conservation of the animal, as according to State Tourism, Culture and En­­vironment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun, the elephant has been classified as a totally protected species under its wildlife laws. 

This law shows emphasis on wildlife protection, and that Malaysia is serious about dealing with animal trafficking, including smuggling of ivory. This point was further highlighted following three major busts involving ivory worth millions in ivory at various ports in Malaysia. It is rather cruel to kill an elephant only to get its tusks just so some people can keep it on display and show it off to others. 

How would you like it if – for whatever reason – someone killed you just to get your teeth? Read the full article below: Those who kill Borneo elephants will now face a mandatory jail term as part of Sabah’s efforts to upgrade its conservation of the animal. State Tourism, Culture and En­­vironment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the elephant was classified as a totally protected species under its wildlife laws. “This means that as far as our elephants are concerned, if you kill, you go to jail,” he said when closing a wildlife conference here yesterday.

The conference was jointly organised by the state’s Wildlife Depart­ment and the Malaysian Palm Oil Council. Under the totally protected classification, those convicted of killing the animals will be liable for a mandatory jail term of up to five years. Previously, those convicted of killing these animals, which were listed only as protected, were liable to a fine of up to RM30,000 or three years in default or both.

Masidi said the state was also finalising its draft of a request to the Federal Government to amend the Fisheries Act to prohibit the hunting of sharks in Malaysian waters. “We hope that with such changes, we won’t see the sale of shark’s fin in this country soon,” he added. 

On concerns that the state’s agricultural sector was impacting the environment, Masidi said: “We know we are blessed with an abundance of natural assets and we are determined to protect them. “But Sabah, too, has its peculiarities and among these is that we are dependent on agriculture to eradicate poverty. “So, you can criticise us but please see our side of the story, too.” 

Meanwhile, Sabah Wildlife De­­partment director Laurentius Ambu said among the consensus reached at the conference, which was atten­ded by conservationists and oil palm industry representatives, was the need to push zero tolerance for wildlife killing. “If companies would make it clear to their staff that they would be fired if they were found to be killing wildlife illegally, this could be a highly effective tool,” said Laurentius, adding that such an approach should be taken for protected species.

He said participants also highlighted the need for the maintenance of forest corridors in plantations. “If such corridors no longer exist, these should be re-established wherever possible. It is, however, recognised that corridor establishment is expensive and challenging, and needs to be done together with other management tools,” he added.

Source: The Star

Probe into gibbon attack at Malacca Zoo

PETALING JAYA, Malaysia - The Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) has launched an investigation into the attack by an aggressive male gibbon on a little boy at Malacca Zoo.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas said Perhilitan has been told to tighten safety measures to prevent a repeat of the incident.

"Perhilitan is investigating the gibbon attack. It has never happened before and we are keen to find out why it happened," he said yesterday.

The gibbon attack was the latest in a series of freak animal attacks that caused severe injury and in some cases, death to their victims.

The 15kg alpha male primate snatched three-year-old Muhammad Afiq Haziq from his father's arms in the attack on Tuesday and tore a chunk of flesh off his thigh. The boy also suffered facial and bodily injuries,

It had earlier bitten another visitor, five-year-old Zukrina Abdul Hadi, on her left ankle.

Muhammad Afiq is reported to be in a stable condition at the Malacca hospital after undergoing an operation on his ruptured tendon.

"I hope his wounds will recover fast," said his father Kamarul Baharin Othman, 38, at the hospital yesterday.

He denied reports that doctors were attempting to save Muhammad Afiq's leg from being amputated, saying it was not that serious.

Malacca Zoo director Ahmad Azhar Mohammed, who visited the injured boy at the hospital, said the 10-year-old gibbon had been quarantined pending a detailed investigation.

He said gibbons were not aggressive by nature, adding that the one which attacked the boy may have been provoked.

"We will re-inspect the condition of the gibbon's enclosure to ensure the safety of visitors," he said, adding that the zoo would also bear all costs incurred, including lodging for Muhammad Afiq's parents.

Malacca Zoo public relations officer Masri Mohd Arof said investigations were ongoing to discover how the primate had crossed over to the park from its colony on a man-made island.

The gibbon's enclosure is separated by a metre-deep waterway from the public viewing space to prevent it from escaping, as gibbons are afraid of water.

Earlier this month, Australian tourist Jenna O'Grady Donley was gored to death by a Borneo pygmy bull elephant at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve.

In September, a local tourist guide and his assistant were attacked by a 25-year-old orang utan at the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre in Sarawak. Both of them suffered injuries.

Resource:  The Star/Asia News Network

Malaysia seizes million-dollar ivory shipment: Customs

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia has seized elephant tusks and ivory handicrafts worth an estimated four million ringgit (S$1.6 million) en route from Kenya to Cambodia, a customs official said Tuesday.

The haul is the latest to indicate Malaysia has become an Asian transit hub in the illicit ivory trade, and follows the seizure of hundreds of African elephants' tusks in several busts by Malaysian authorities in recent months.

Customs inspectors seized the container last Thursday in Klang, Malaysia's biggest port, after it was unloaded from a cargo ship.

"The cargo manifest said the container contained handicrafts (soapstone) and it was loaded in Mombasa port in Kenya," Azis Yacub, state customs director of the state of Selangor, where the port is located, said in a statement.

Officials also found carved elephant and rhinoceros ivory. Azis said the container's final destination was the port of Sihanoukville in Cambodia.

In August, Hong Kong authorities seized nearly two tonnes of elephant ivory worth about $1.7 million in a shipment from Malaysia, which wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC has described as a major hub for illicit wildlife products.

TRAFFIC says that the illegal ivory trade has been rising globally since 2004 largely due to increasing demand in China, where ivory is often ground up and used in traditional medicine.

International trade in elephant ivory was banned in 1990, but since then several auctions of tusks from elephants that died naturally or were seized from poachers have been permitted in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.

Resource :  AFP