Outrage over ‘army website’ encouraging illegal hunting

Syed Jaymal Zahiid | June 6, 2012

One hunter even boasted of his kills despite being aware of its illegality.

KUALA LUMPUR: Animal rights group Traffic claimed today there was an alleged widespread of illegal hunting by army personnel who even boasted of killing protected species.

Traffic legal officer Shenaaz Khan said the purported hunting also took place in protected forest reserves like Temengor in Perak, in an area barred from any hunting activities.

Species killed include the Serow, barking deer, mouse deer and Sambar deer. The Sambar and Barking Deer cannot be hunted after a moratorium on hunting of these two species was enforced in 2009 and is valid for six years.

Meanwhile under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010, the Serow is a totally protected species and cannot be hunted without a special permit which can only be issued by the Environment Minister.
Ilegal hunting of the Serow is punishable with a fine of between RM100,000 to RM500,000 or imprisonment of up to five years.

Shenaaz said she had discovered the information from a website for military buffs called Panggilan Pertiwi where a discussion thread of the hunting activities was found.

Arrogance
In the thread, a forum participant by the alias “Marker November” whose avatar picture was of him, his rifle and and a dead dear on his lap, spoke extensively on his hunting experiences including locations and hunting methods for specific species.

Some of the methods mentioned were in clear violation of hunting rules, claimed Sheenaz. The hunter also admitted to being aware of the illegality of his activities.

“You can see the arrogance (of the hunter). He was clearly aware that it is illegal but he did it nevertheless,” she told FMT.

This included breaching hunting period in accordance to legal provisions and building “hides” which are structures built to enable hunters to shoot high from a vantage point.

According to the Traffic lawyer, the discussion thread had since been removed after a police report was lodged but there are no indicators that action would be taken against the perpetrators or assurance that the authorities are doing anything to stop illegal hunting.

Sheenaz said this exposes the weaknesses from the part of the Wildlife Agency in enforcing laws to curb illegal hunting and urged the authorities to buck up and urged investigation on the information provided.

 

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PROTECT WILDLIFE OR FACE "TOURIST EXTINCTION" WARNS MNS IN MALAYSKIAKINI

QUICK COMMENT: The following is an excellent interview by Malaysiakini on the Malaysian Nature Society on our country's wildlife. MNS' Gary Phong does not mince around with his words when it comes to speaking out about doing the needful to protect animal life under our care. It is time also for animal NGOs throughout the nation to work together to speak up and speak out for our wildlife that are a constant target by unscrupulous profiteers.
aNt
PET+BLOGSPOT

PROTECT WILDLIFE OR FACE "TOURIST EXTINCTION". Story by Malaysiakini

About 21 million tourists visited Malaysia last year, bringing with them RM45 billion, but unless we protect our wildlife, the country will soon see the number of tourists dwindling.

When faced with a choice between countries like India and Sri Lanka where wildlife is still abundant and Malaysia where its wildlife has been on the receiving end of “an intense and prolonged onslaught”, tourists would choose the former.

“As a result, it is increasingly difficult to see wildlife in Malaysian forests, and this is undoubtedly beginning to affect the tourist industry,” said Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Gary Phong, who is the organisation’s Selangor branch chairperson.

“Many foreign tourists express disappointment when questioned about their experience in Malaysia's forests and compare the country unfavourably with places like India and Sri Lanka, where wildlife is still plentiful despite dense human populations,” he said in a statement.

Due to the onslaught on wildlife to feed the trade in exotic pets, the supply of medicinal products and local restaurants providing exotic meat, Malaysia’s protected areas are now almost devoid of wildlife, said MNS.

Among the disappearing wildlife in Sarawak are the rhinoceros hornbill, seven out of eight other hornbill species, Bornean gibbons, two species of leaf monkey, two species of flying squirrel, sunbears, a civet, a cat, an otter, and at least five species of hawk.

Meanwhile, in Peninsular Malaysia, both the Sumatran rhinoceros and the tiger are facing extinction.

Failure to enforce laws

The wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic says that the illegal wildlife trade is getting larger and more organised and is pushing many of Southeast Asia's species closer to the brink of extinction, said Phong.

“At the heart of the problem is a failure to enforce wildlife protection laws. The laws are for the most part perfectly adequate, but enforcement agencies are under-staffed and under-resourced,” he lamented.

The society also said that the work of enforcement agencies such as the Department of Wildlife is often undermined by senior government officials and politicians.

“For example, when a local plantation owner, who also happened to be a property tycoon, blatantly encroached into Lambir Hills National Park, the Sarawak Forestry Corporation was asked to drop the ensuing case by a senior politician.

“When the Department of Wildlife has succeeded in bringing cases against restaurants for serving bush meat, the fines handed down by the judges were paltry, ranging from RM1,800 to RM5,000 despite maximum sentences of RM15,000 and five years in prison.

“Similarly, in 2005 poachers who killed a tiger in Kelantan were fined just RM7,000. Sentences like these clearly serve more as a deterrent to the enforcement agencies than the criminals,” said MNS.

The examples reflect a “malaise” among senior politicians, civil servants, and the legal profession that crimes against wildlife are “minor”, said MSN.

Whether the poachers are international syndicates trading in wildlife, a property tycoon with a pet sunbear, a restaurateur serving endangered meat, or even just a villager shooting a protected species, they are all criminals and should be treated as such, the society added.

“They are stealing our natural heritage and threatening the long-term survival of much of Malaysia's biodiversity.

“Failure to enhance enforcement will not only result in further declining wildlife populations and extinctions across much of the country, but will also erode Malaysia's international reputation and start to impact tourist revenues.”