story on escape panther

[Guest guest]

Sultan: Catch the panther alive. _ The New Straits Times May 29th.

 

By Sim Bak Heng news

 

JOHOR BARU, May 28. - The Sultan of Johor has ordered the team searching for

the panther which escaped from the Johor Zoo six days ago to catch the animal

alive.

 

Sources said the Sultan's directive was conveyed at the morning briefing of the

search team today.

 

The Sultan had instructed the team to use all measures to trap the panther and

not harm the animal.

 

The directive effectively nullified an earlier " shoot to kill " strategy adopted

by the team.

 

Sources said the Sultan had given the order after considering that the panther

is an animal high on the list of endangered species.

 

District police chief Assistant Commissioner Hashim Yusof, who heads the team,

said a new strategy has been adopted to allow zoo personnel and rangers from

the State Wildlife and National Park Department to trap the animal.

 

" They will set up traps to capture the animal, " he said today.

 

It was understood that the search team had also scaled down its efforts today.

The Orang Asli team and their trekker dogs are no longer involved in the

search.

 

Zoo personnel were today seen setting up three metal cages while the department

installed another two at the perimeter of the zoo compound.

 

Department director Rahim Ahmad said live chickens would be used as bait. " We

will put two cages next to the fencing of the zoo as we believe it is the path

used by the animal. The zoo will also install three smaller cages. We hope that

the panther will be trapped tonight, " he said.

 

Three sightings of the panther were reported yesterday. The first w as at

Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Aminuddin Baki compound in the morning, another at

the Radio Televisyen Malaysia transmission area near the Sultan Iskandar

Complex at 2pm and at the Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar at 3.30pm.

 

However, no sighting was reported today.

 

In a similar incident at the Singapore Zoo in 1973, a panther escaped from its

enclosure and remained undetected for almost 10 months.

 

The animal was killed after it was found hiding in a drain.