Guest guest Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 ***************************Advertisement*************************** TechCentral http://star-techcentral.com ***************************************************************** This message was forwarded to you by yitzeling. Comment from sender: This article is from The Star Online (http://thestar.com.my) URL: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2004/2/17/features/7196593 & sec=f\ eatures ________________________ Tuesday February 17, 2004 Training the Semai in Ulu Geroh A RICH array of wildlife abounds in the forest surrounding Kampung Ulu Geroh in Gopeng. Apart from the rare Rafflesia, the site harbours many species of beetles and butterflies. The insects are in such abundance that the Semai orang asli are collecting them – particularly the Rajah Brooke Birdwing (Troides brookiana), the national butterfly of Malaysia – for the souvenir trade. Villagers are paid a mere 7 sen for each butterfly by a middleman in the village, who then sells the specimens for 10 sen a piece to traders in Tapah and Cameron Highlands. Once mounted and framed, the specimens are tagged at between RM20 and RM40 each. Catching butterflies is a major village activity, judging from the many women, young men and children seen swinging insect nets around. One girl says sometimes she gets RM2 a day from selling butterflies – that is about 28 butterflies in the net. The middleman, Bah Achin, has been in the business for over 20 years. He gets about 2,000 specimens every fortnight and also supplies live specimens to the butterfly farm in Penang. At this rate of exploitation, the Rajah Brooke, a “threatened” species, may well die out. Bah, however, insists: “There is still a lot. Although there is less now compared to the past, it is not because of the catching but because forests have been cut for oil palm.” The Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) hopes the Rafflesia tourism project will wean the Semai away from harvesting butterflies. The project will train them to guide visitors to view the Rajah Brooke butterfly instead because for unknown reasons, the species aggregate in the Ulu Geroh forest in large numbers. There are also other rare and uncommon butterfly species, which all add conservation merits to Ulu Geroh. Since it would be difficult to completely stop the harvesting of butterflies, the next best thing is to limit the catch and make it sustainable. Stella Melkion of the MNS says the orang asli will be taught to mount the specimens themselves so they can sell directly to tourists. “The better returns will lessen the catch,” she says. To prevent depletion of the species, the butterfly population will be monitored and the Semai will be encouraged to plant the creeper Aristolachia faveolata which the butterflies feed on. The Rajah Brooke is a “protected” insect under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972; it can be collected and kept only by a licensed hunter or licensed dealer. – By Tan Cheng Li <p> ________________________ Your one-stop information portal: The Star Online http://thestar.com.my http://biz.thestar.com.my http://classifieds.thestar.com.my http://cards.thestar.com.my http://search.thestar.com.my http://star-motoring.com http://star-space.com http://star-jobs.com http://star-ecentral.com http://star-techcentral.com 1995-2003 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Star Publications is prohibited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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