Bernama | Published: 6 Jul 2019, 10:09 pm
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| An endangered Malayan Tiger - Poachers are increasingly becoming more stubbornly belligerent as the demand increases for tiger body parts - Pic: Malaysiakini |
The Royal Malaysia Police have agreed to assist the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) rangers in carrying out patrols in the jungle.
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| Dr A. Xavier Jayakumar |
Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr A Xavier Jayakumar said the cooperation was necessary to combat poachers, particularly of the Malayan tiger, as well as to destroy the traps set up by irresponsible parties.
“I will make an announcement on the joint operation with the police in the near future while cooperation with the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) is still in negotiation as it involves technical issues,” he told reporters after opening the Save The Malayan Tiger Campaign in Taiping today.
According to Jayakumar, the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 does not allow forest rangers to carry firearms and this, more or less, limits their fight against poachers in areas bordering neighbouring countries.
“For example, poachers encroached into our country through the border of Thailand and Perak to hunt for our tigers. The Royal Belum Forest in Gerik is the largest forest reserve and many tigers live in the forest,” he said.
He said that between 2013 and last year, more than 1,000 snare operations were carried out nationwide that led to the destruction of more than 3,500 snares.
“During that period, 162 poachers were arrested for various offences involving protected wildlife species and 14 tigers were illegally hunted and captured in snares,” he said.
On today's programme, the minister said the collaboration made by Perhilitan and the Aeon Group was aimed at collecting funds for the Malayan tiger rescue programme.
“This will also enable more rangers to be deployed to the jungle to carry out patrols as well as to locate and destroy the snares set up by those poachers,” he said.
- BERNAMA
-Mkini
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/482720
This article from Malaysiakini was posted in this blog as poaching is becoming a problem to our borders. Some of you may not know but this problem has always been there and some of these poachers come as far as Vietnam. Tiger bones and various other body parts are priced aphrodisiacs in China and they fetch hefty amount of money. There's some truth to Chinese traditional medicines that tiger parts do increase the vitality of a men's health especially in the area of sexual stamina and potency. Secondly it is also revealed that tiger body parts and including the meat do heal ill health much quicker and provide terminally ill patients on cancer an added resource to rebuild their energies. How true this is in terms of being empirical and scientific are yet to be proven.
ReplyDeleteAs the demand becomes aggressive, Malaysia being one of the last bastions of tiger sanctuaries are fast becoming enamored with serious concerns about the rising numbers of tiger growths. Many of these poachers are smart. They trap tigers as if they are on a fishing expedition. They put out these snares and if any tigers are trapped then they kill them and quietly smuggled the parts in pieces out the country. Now its not only the tigers are caught in these snares. Sometimes, endangered animals like the tapir are also caught in them.
It's wonderful that the Pakatan Harapan are enforcing it with greater enforcement capabilities, especially via encouraging and employing the police and soon the military. Remember, by increasing the capabilities of enforcement in poaching not only deters and defeat poachers but also illegal immigrants breaching Malaysia will be caught in the process as well. This is a well thought up formula and thumbs up for YB A. Xavier.
With this, we, Malaysians would like the Minister to eventually be successful in roping the military, especially soldiers in helping to stem the scourge of poaching and breaching Malaysian porous borders.
Singapore seizes ivory from nearly 300 elephants in record haul
ReplyDeleteReuters | Published: 23 Jul 2019, 3:56 pm
Singapore said today it had seized 8.8 tonnes of elephant ivory, a record haul by authorities in the city-state, which conservation groups say is a transit point for the illegal wildlife trade.
The elephant ivory, estimated to be worth US$12.9 million, came from nearly 300 African elephants and was heading to Vietnam through Singapore from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The haul also contained the third major seizure of pangolin scales in Singapore this year.
The pangolin, a scaly anteater, is one of the most trafficked mammals in the world. Its meat is considered a delicacy in Vietnam and China, and the scales are used in traditional Chinese medicine, though the benefits are disputed by medical scientists.
"The seized pangolin scales and elephant ivory will be destroyed to prevent them from re-entering the market," the Singapore Customs, Immigration and Checkpoints Authority and the National Parks Board said, adding that the July 21 seizure came after a tip-off from China's customs department.
The ivory haul falls just short of 9.1 tonnes seizure in Vietnam in March, which non-government organisation Environmental Investigation Agency said was thought to be the largest ever globally.
There has been a flurry of seizures, including rhino horns, in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Vietnam in recent months.
"Singapore has always been inadvertently implicated in the global ivory trade for two reasons: its global connectivity, as well as the presence of a small domestic market where pre-1990s ivory can be legally sold," said Kim Stengert, chief communications officer for WWF Singapore.
"The consistency of these large-scale seizures is strong evidence of organised crime behind illegal wildlife trade coming through or into Singapore."
Singapore authorities said the latest seizure also contained 11.9 tonnes of pangolin scales, worth about US$35.7 million and equivalent to close to 2,000 pangolins.
Singapore seized a total of 37.5 tonnes of pangolin scales since April, including one raid which was the biggest of its kind worldwide in five years.
The city-state is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and says it is committed to the global effort to curb the illegal wildlife trade.
- Reuters
- Mkini
- https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/485078
Tiger's death caused by virus, says Perhilitan
ReplyDeleteBernama | Published: 23 Jul 2019, 3:37 pm
A male tiger which was caught by the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) after wandering in Kampung Besul Lama, Bukit Besi, Terengganu last Friday, has died due to canine distemper virus early Tuesday morning.
Perhilitan, in a statement said the Malayan Tiger known as ‘Awang Besul’ was confirmed dead by the department’s veterinary doctor at the National Wildlife Rescue Centre (NWRC) in Sungkai here at about 5.30am despite the intensive efforts to treat and save the tiger “Physical check on the field last Friday found injuries to its legs, an eye infection. It was dehydrated when it was captured.
“The tiger also displayed unusual clinical neurology signs such as non-aggressiveness, turning in one direction when walking, seizures and clinical signs of the respiratory tract infections such as nasal discharge. The treatment given was symptomatic or supportive treatment,” it said.
According to the statement, the virology results that was received yesterday confirmed Awang Besul tested positive for Canine Distemper Virus, and a post mortem would be conducted soon.
Canine Distemper is a disease caused by a virus which attacks domestic animals such as dogs or other wildlife, including the tiger species.
The statement said if tigers are affected by this disease, it will display behaviours such as being unafraid of humans and the probability of it recovering would be very slim.
Perhilitan does not rule out the possibility that the canine distemper which Awang Besul suffered from was spread by wild animals around the village, and anyone with information is advised to contact the department at 1-800-88-5151.
Last Friday, Awang Besul, estimated to weigh about 130 kilogrammes, was caught at about 3.30pm after being shot with a tranquilliser dart and was quarantined.
The five-year-old tiger was caught while it was resting in the bush about 500 metres from the main road.
- Bernama
- Mkini
- https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/485073
Alarmed by growing trafficking, US wants to do more in Mekong region
ReplyDeleteNirmal Ghosh, US Bureau Chief, PUBLISHED: JUL 25, 2019
WASHINGTON - The United States is set to beef up its approach to Mekong countries, pledging more financial assistance with an eye on combating transnational organised crime.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to attend Asean-related meetings in Thailand in the first week of next month. Sources say he will pledge more financial assistance to countries in the Lower Mekong Initiative - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam - to beef up training and assistance to governments and law enforcement.
The objective is to better tackle growing trafficking in methamphetamine and wildlife and natural resources, which rides on endemic corruption and weak law enforcement.
This will also put more muscle into the LMI, which grew out of former president Barack Obama's "pivot to Asia" but thus far has been perceived by many as strong on messaging but thin on content.
The seizure in Singapore on July 21 of 11.9 tonnes of pangolin scales and 8.8 tonnes of elephant ivory - a record for Singapore - being shipped from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Vietnam, coming just four days after an extensive UN report warned of the expanding reach of transnational criminal organisations, was a reminder that more robust action is needed, analysts say.
The meth trade emanating principally out of de facto autonomous zones of northern Myanmar has also exploded. Meth from Myanmar has been found across the wider region. In March 2019, 2.1 tonnes were found in Johor, Malaysia. In December 2017, 1.2 tonnes were found in Perth, Australia.
According to investigations, the meth found in Johor was trafficked from Myanmar through Laos and Thailand. The shipment found in Perth came from Myanmar via Indonesia.
Mr John Whalen, a retired US Drug Enforcement Agency official based in Yangon, told The Straits Times: "The problem in Myanmar particularly is you have weak law enforcement, so it's a breeding ground in some respects for organised crime. The police in particular are very low-paid so they are easily corruptible; the military particularly in outlying areas is easily corruptible. All along the process people are paid off, and not just in Myanmar but on porous borders of the region."
"I think the US should be doing more," he added.
With Myanmar's transition to an elected government in 2011, the US was able to open up the relationship with Myanmar, lifting sanctions and providing training, but not to the level necessary, he said.
Cont. Below...
In an e-mail, Mr Jeremy Douglas, Bangkok-based regional representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said: "Massive syndicates concentrating industrial levels of synthetic drug production in ungoverned parts of Myanmar are shipping great distances using the great infrastructure of the region, laundering huge profits across the Mekong."
Delete"Unless the conditions that have allowed organised crime to innovate and expand the drug business here are addressed, it will continue to grow," he warned.
"Asean is simply not capable of addressing organised crime and synthetic drugs alone, and needs to work at the highest levels with key dialogue partners like the US, China, Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea and the UN. The business does not stop at the borders of the region. It is not possible to get around the fact that countries of Asia Pacific, or at least the western part of the Pacific and North America, need to come together at leadership level to prioritise taking on organised crime."
The US sees drug and wildlife trafficking - and related money laundering - as a global problem.
"Over time, international criminal networks are meeting up with each other, there is interaction between criminal elements in one region connected to another," Ms Kirsten Madison, US Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), said in an interview.
"Criminal organisations are becoming much more evolved criminal multinational businesses in some respect," she said. To work on how the money is moving, and to work regionally, is a growing imperative.
The INL works with foreign governments to combat money laundering, terrorism financing, migrant smuggling, corruption, and cyber, intellectual property and environmental crime, and wildlife and drug trafficking among others.
"We often talk about counter-narcotics issues, but the reality is that transnational organised crime is operating across a lot of spheres," Ms Madison said. "And when you look at wildlife trafficking, not only is it disturbing from the perspective of loss of species and environmental impact, but it is an enormous source of funding for criminal actors. And to be successful, criminal actors need to corrupt and poison institutions."
Interceptions of contraband show that seizures alone are failing to deter traffickers, Mr Justin Gosling, an independent consultant on transnational wildlife trafficking, told The Straits Times.
"What's missing is basic detective work - exploring every reasonable line of inquiry to exhaustion. In most cases, that starts with the country detecting the crime communicating with every other country involved so that they can initiate their own investigations," he said.
"That's what we mean by international cooperation. Agencies like Interpol must be more engaged in their core function - to help national enforcement agencies coordinate inquiries, and collate evidence and intelligence."
- The Straits Times
- https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/alarmed-by-growing-trafficking-us-wants-to-do-more-in-mekong-region
Senoi Praaq to join the fight against poachers
ReplyDeleteBernama, July 28, 2019.
PUTRAJAYA: Two General Operations Force battalions of Senoi Praaq have been deployed to assist the Wildlife Department to hunt down poachers in the forests, especially poachers hunting for the Malayan tiger which is now in danger of becoming extinct, said Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Abdul Hamid Bador.
He said one of the battalions, comprising 500 members, would conduct patrols in identified forest areas with the Wildlife and National Parks Department, while the other would be placed on stand-by.
Hamid said as the IGP, it was his responsibility to provide whatever assistance required by the water, land and natural resources ministry in conjunction with today’s Save The Tiger Day.
“My purpose of giving the task to the Senoi Praaq (Battalion) is because they are skilled as trackers and they are also used to the jungle environment.
“This is the land in which their ancestors earned their living and now the situation is getting worse with foreigners unscrupulously coming to rob the rich fauna in the country,” he told the media after attending the Global Tiger Day 2019 and launch of the Save Harimau Malaya 2019-2020 campaign here today.
Hamid said the police would also provide training to Wildlife officers and personnel on the use of firearms and will also provide standard procedures to deal with threats from illegal hunters.
“So, the Senoi Praaq battalion is ready to assist the Wildlife Department… their lives are threatened by illegal hunters from abroad who are bold and vicious. We will shoot them, if necessary,” he added.
Hamid said he had also instructed the Special Branch to set up a special section to gather information on illegal hunters and those involved in trafficking wild animal parts.
“The Special Branch is also given the responsibility to monitor sandalwood. This means we monitor everything including the flora. Everything that is stolen from the jungle, action will be taken by the police,” he added.
The minister for natural resources, Xavier Jayakumar, said three areas would be given focus: Belum-Temenggor Tropical Forest, Pahang-Terengganu National Park and Endau Rompin National Park.
- BERNAMA
- FMT
- https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2019/07/28/senoi-praaq-to-join-the-fight-against-poachers/
Dawei road project poses risks to threatened species: WWF
ReplyDeleteSwe Lei Mon 16 Jul 2019
Myanmar’s rainforests and at least nine globally-threatened species face significant risks in Tanintharyi Region if the Dawei-Htee Khee road project continues without a comprehensive biodiversity protection plan, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
The WWF released a report, “Nature in Peril: The risk of forests and wildlife from the Dawei-Htee Khee road” on Thursday.
Construction began on the 138-kilometre, two-lane Htee Khee road to link the Dawei Special Economic Zone with Thailand in 2018. It runs through the vast forests of the Dawna Tenasserim Landscape, which spans the mountains on the Thai-Myanmar border.
The DTL is one of the most intact natural landscapes in the entire Greater Mekong region and a stronghold for tigers, elephants, and other endangered wildlife. This forest ecosystem provides freshwater for the area and is critical for mitigating climate change. It is home to 168 species of mammal, 568 species of bird, and thousands of reptile, amphibian, insect, fish and plant species, the WWF said.
“The road would bring economic growth to Tanintharyi. However, we are not looking at the cost to forest and wildlife. Just as people need roads, nature needs wild highways allowing species to move,” said Nick Cox, conservation director of WWF-Myanmar.
Needing wild highways is one of several issues ignored by the project, he added.
Following the Dawei SEZ Memorandum of Intent signed by Myanmar, Thailand and Japan in 2015, Italian-Thailand Development (ITD) signed an agreement with the government to build the two-lane road. In May 2018, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation approved the environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) with some comments.
However, the assessment is inadequate in mitigating any impact on biodiversity because it fails to address key challenges, such as the loss of habitat connectivity for threatened species, and an increase in deforestation and illegal hunting, the WWF said.
For example, the impact on forests and wildlife identified in the assessment include increases in vehicle pollution, vehicle-wildlife accidents, and deterioration of habitat, but it lacks a comprehensive assessment of the impact of increased traffic and vehicle speeds on wildlife.
It also lacks a plan to construct wildlife crossings, protect the wildlife corridor, and set up monitoring. “What is especially concerning is that the ESIA fails to acknowledge the rich biodiversity of the DTL, and even states that wildlife will be forced to move out of the area due to disturbances from the road, while proposing insufficient measures for mitigating this impact,” the WWF said.
“The reforestation plan is also insufficient. There are many missing elements to the ESIA, and more comprehensive mitigation measures need to be taken to ensure the protection of the forests and wildlife in the DTL from the effects of the road project.”
Cont. Below...
The WWF found vulnerable species such as tigers, clouded leopards, leopards, Asian elephants, guar, Asian tapirs, sambar deer, sun bears, Asiatic black bears, and white-handed gibbons along the Dawei road.
DeleteIt recommended that the government construct dedicated wildlife underpasses or overpasses along the main wildlife corridor from Myitta to Sin Phyu Daing. The crossings must also have fences to guide wildlife to the designated areas. These have been proven to work on similar projects in Thailand.
Also needed are signs to prevent wildlife poaching and illegal hunting, warning signs for road users, and speed reductions at night to prevent fatal accidents for people and wildlife.
The report says that the area between Myitta and Sin Phyu Daing is also vulnerable to soil erosion and landslides, particularly if forests are cleared, so protecting the forests and restoring these areas will lower the risk of damage to the road as well as protect wildlife habitat.
Since it is highly likely that this road will be upgraded to a four-lane highway in the future, it is imperative that this expansion be part of the planning from the start, in order to ensure that environmental impact, avoidance, and effective mitigation are taken into account. “The experience of other countries shows that this is the most cost-effective and environmentally sound approach,” the WWF said.
It also urged that the relevant government ministries and the ITD put in place a comprehensive and fully-funded reforestation and habitat restoration plan that will offset the effects on forests of the construction and upgrading of the road.
- Myanmar Times
- https://www.mmtimes.com/news/dawei-road-project-poses-risks-threatened-species-wwf.html
Cops can shoot to kill if threatened by poachers, says IGP
ReplyDeleteAdam Abu Bakar on October 30, 2019
KUALA LUMPUR: Top cop Abdul Hamid Bador says officers tasked with protecting the country’s wildlife have been authorised to shoot to kill if threatened by illegal poachers.
He said the decision followed an incident in which members of the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) and the forestry department were attacked by poachers.
“They attacked and our officers were the ones that ran. The illegal foreign poachers didn’t run but even threatened our officers. This cannot be accepted.
“So if they dare to act against Perhilitan officers, we will deploy officers from the Senoi Praaq general operations force (GOF).
“If illegal poachers act, they can harm our officers and even kill them. So shooting to kill is all right,” he said in a press conference at Bukit Aman here today.
He added that two battalions from the Senoi Praaq GOF comprising 1,703 officers had been instructed to assist the forestry department and Perhilitan in their patrols.
On prominent individuals (VVIPs) believed to be directly or indirectly involved in illegal poaching, he said they are under observation and can be prosecuted if found guilty.
However, he declined to reveal their identities.
“I received information that there are VVIPs involved in illegal hunting activities. I take this issue seriously.
“If they’re found to be involved, their firearms licence will be revoked and if they are caught hunting, they will be apprehended and charged under the law.
“There are no exceptions and there is no reason for them to hunt. Why are you competing for the food of bears and tigers?” he said.
Hamid also urged Putrajaya to make caning a mandatory punishment for those involved in crimes against the environment to serve as a deterrent and lesson.
- FMT
- https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2019/10/30/cops-can-shoot-to-kill-if-threatened-by-poachers-says-igp/