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Malaysian snakes travel to India Star-7.9.01

 

Holed up in a timber shipment, a few baby snakes have travelled across the

sea from Malaysia to India. A family-managed animal care centre in here

said yesterday it was trying to save their lives, threatened by unfamiliar

environment.

" We are planning to feed porridge made of minced meat and egg yolk, said

Janaki Iyengar, whose family runs the Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Trust

here. " In case they do not consume, we may have to leave them in the

natural habitat, in consultation with the forest officials. We do not want

them to die. "

A timber merchant who had ordered the shipment from Malaysia handed over the

baby snakes to the trust. He found the snakes and some semi-hatched eggs in

a log. Iyengar said the snakes possibly belonged to the " Bioga " species, a

kind of tree-dwelling snake common in Malaysia but alien to India. She said

that for the next couple of days, the snakes would be fed only water, as the

yolk they consume during hatching, served as food for a few days. The

family is, however, worried about the kind of food the snakes would need in

the future.

 

Letter to editor over inhumane act - Star 28.9.01:

 

I refer to your report, " Killing animals for sport angers group " . I am

gravely appalled by this inhumane act by the Rela members of Teluk Intan.

As if it wasn't barbaric enough to shoot the 97 monkeys and 15 squirrels for

fun, they had cut off the animals' tails and proudly displayed them for the

world to see.

I couldn't agree more with Ipoh Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to

Animals vice-president Dr. Goh that if these animals were a nuisance, they

should have been caught and sent back to the jungle.

Judging from this incident, I don't think it is the animals which are a

threat to nature and the habitat. It is people. I hope the Rela members

are enjoying their food hampers.

 

Another letter on the above to the Star of l.10.01. from WWF Malaysia's

Senior Unit Head of Species Conservation:

 

WWF Malaysia expresses disappointment over the recent cruel killings of 97

primates near Teluk Intan. Among the primates killed were dusky leaf

monkeys, a protected species in Malaysia. It is an offence to shoot any

protected animal. The killing of protected wildlife should be a last resort

to resolve any human-wildlife conflict.

In the event of an urgency to cull wildlife, the animals should be treated

with respect and not by cutting their tails for the sake of a competition.

The repercussions from such sport hunting activities could result in more

wildlife killings and lack of appreciation for them, especially among

people who do not understand the law.

Alternative measures should be taken before resorting to killing the

animals.

Among the options is the capture and translocation of wildlife to other

appropriate areas. Another option would be to use biological control or

other appropriate means to deter the wildlife from entering a village or

plantation in the first place. For instance, using a predator to scare the

monkeys away. Many times, wild animals are forced to enter villages or

plantations for food because their natural habitat is threatened or

destroyed.

WWF Malaysia urges the authorities to further investigate the matter.

The Protection of Wildlife Act is a federal law which allows the protection

and management of wild animals.

However, the same Act also allows for animals that have become pests,

particularly in agricultural areas, to be removed with permission from the

relevant state wildlife authorities.

 

Sarawak to clamp down on wildlife poachers - Business Times 23.8.01

 

The Sarawak Local Government and Environment Minister will take stern action

against anyone found involved in the illegal trade of protected and

endangered animals. Minister Datuk Amar James said the exotic animals,

which were traded either alive or after being killed for their meat, were

reportedly smuggled in from neighbouring Indonesian Kalimantan along the

porous Malaysia-Indonesia border.

Reports of such rampant illegal activities in Serikin where a potential

buyer could find endangered primates like the banded and Maroon Langur,

Bornean Gibbon, flat headed cats, squirrels, slow loris, monitor lizards and

birds along its narrow streets.

A gibbon could fetch a price as high as RM400 and the illegal trade in

turtles and tortoises for meat as well as for the pet business was said to

have reached an alarming level. Certain animals are also said to be hunted

for specific purposes with some parts finding their way into traditional

medicine.

 

 

Pantai Acheh-Star 16.9.01

 

A colony of 40 white-bellied sea eagles in the Pantai Acheh Forest Reserve

are set to become eco-tourism attractions.

University Science Malaysia (USM) Mohamed Hifni said researchers had

proposed that Tanjung Bay, located between Muka Head and Pantai Keracut, be

turned into an " eagle-feeding " area to draw tourists. He said the eagles can

either be fed on the huge rocks in the sea or around the proposed demarcated

inshore area. The bay was ideal because the rocky cliff would ensure zero

access to the forest. The forest is full of seraya trees, in which eagles

prefer to nest. The move to gazette Pantai Acheh as a national park was a

positive move towards ensuring that the eagles and other wildlife species

were protected.

A USM survey showed about 20 nests in the forest.

 

Meanwhile, USM will carry out a study on the ecology of the White Bellied

Sea Eagle for a proposed eagle conservation programme at Pantai Keracut in

Pantai Acheh Forest Reserve.

Mohamed Hifni said nesting eagles normally flew in pairs and the female was

bigger with a wingspan of up to 2 180mm while the male had a wingspan of 1

780mm. While the female weighs about 2 800g, the male weighs between 2 475

to 2 800g and could fly at an average speed of 50kps.

Eagles adopt a territorial habitat and the decline in their number in Penang

was due to habitat clearance driven by the expanding human population,

adding that the state had about 46 eagles, including six pairs of nesting

eagles.

Other species of eagles spotted at the reserve were the Brahminy Kite and

the another species which only breed in mangrove forests but would forage

the forest reserve for food.

 

An injured eagle was confiscated from the organiser of a wildlife exhibition

and sent to the Veterinary Department for treatment. The bird which was

injured in the head and bill, had been kept in a small cage at the

exhibition grounds. Wildlife officials inspected the exhibition in a

shopping complex following public complaints that animals were badly

exploited at the show. The organiser could be charged under Section 92 of

the Wildlife Protection Actj for displaying a protected wild bird that was

injured.

 

 

Nesting grounds for vultures Star 27.9.01

 

University Science Malaysia is planning a project to recreate nesting

grounds of a lost bird species - the vulture once a local wildlife species

in the state and other bordering states.

In the early 1920s, the king vulture, brown vulture, Egyptian vulture and

long-billed vulture were found in Penang, Kedah, Kelantan, Perak, Perlis and

Terengganu. After the 1930s the vultures faced local extinction together

with their nesting grounds.

In 1924 two pairs of brown vultures were bred in Penang and several

breeding colonies of the species were found in Kedah and Perlis. The

presence of vultures in the 1920s could be attributed to a slaughterhouse

where leftover animal offal was food for vultures.

Seven natural breeding grounds of vultures had been discovered in Hala-Bala

National Park in Thailand which adjoins Perak's Belum Forest and several

more in Thaleban National Park which adjoins Perlis State Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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