FWD: ‘Trader gets permit to export ‘pygmy elephants’

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This article is from The Star Online (http://thestar.com.my)

URL:

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2003/10/1/nation/6392646 & sec=nation

 

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Wednesday October 1, 2003

‘Trader gets permit to export ‘pygmy elephants’

BY HILARY CHIEW

 

PETALING JAYA: A dozen Borneo “pygmy elephants” of Sabah will find themselves in

Chinese and Japanese zoos barely a month after it was confirmed that the animals

belonged to a new subspecies.

 

It is learnt that the animals were captured from the wild by a renowned animal

trader in Sabah after he purportedly convinced the Sabah Wildlife Department to

allow them to be exported.

 

The elephants were deemed problematic animals because they encroached into

human settlements and would be sent to “captive breeding programmes” in the two

countries.

 

Sources said the department had endorsed the export permit and the shipment was

scheduled for this Sunday.

 

Internationally, Asian elephants are protected under Appendix I of the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna

(CITES).

 

Only strictly scrutinised export for scientific programmes, such as ex-situ

conservation purposes, is allowed.

 

Under the Federal Constitution, Sabah and Sarawak have autonomy over the their

resources, including wildlife. Hence, the Sabah Wildlife Department acts as an

independent CITES management authority for the state.

 

However, because the elephant is a species regulated under CITES, endorsement

from the CITES scientific authority of the country, anchored in the Science,

Technology and Environment Ministry, is required.

 

The decision of the scientific authority supercedes management authority, but

the ministry has yet to make a decision in this case.

 

The World Wide Fund for Nature’s Asian Rhino and Elephant Action Strategy

programme, which conducted the DNA tests on elephant dung collected along the

migratory corridor of the pachyderm from different parts of Sabah, described the

animal as a distinct subspecies from its cousins found on mainland Asia and

Sumatra.

 

It is estimated that their population is not more than 2,000 animals in the

wild, making the species a highly endangered one and any removal from the wild

could trigger the extinction process.

 

Besides unreported poaching, the elephant is also threatened by habitat

degradation caused by logging and land conversion, mainly into oil palm

plantations.

 

WWF Malaysia has recommended more research on the animal's biology and ecology

to promote its conservation.

 

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