Malaysia-endangered tapir

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The New Straits Times - Relocating endangered tapir

Elizabeth John and K.T. Chelvi

 

KUALA LUMPUR, May 12:

 

The small blue signboards lining the Shah Alam-Bandar Baru Puncak Alam road

may be all that stands between the endangered tapir and speeding motorists

who have killed several since last year.

 

 

The signboards were erected in April after the death of three tapirs on the

road that cuts through what was once the Bukit Cerakah Forest Reserve.

 

The Selangor Wildlife Department is attempting to trap as many of the

remaining tapirs in the surrounding forests that have not yet been cleared

to send them to a safer place.

 

The department's director Habsah Muda said her officers recently trapped two

adult tapirs believed to inhabit the area and sent them to the Malacca Zoo.

 

The department has also relocated monkeys, pythons and civet cats to the

Hulu Selangor and Sungai Dusun forest reserves.

 

The area where the tapirs are thought to roam is being cleared for a

Universiti Teknologi Mara campus.

 

Habsah confirmed that at least three adult tapirs were knocked down by

vehicles plying the unlit road last year.

 

Checks with traders along the road, however, revealed that there had been at

least two other deaths early this year.

 

Misli Manan, who has been selling food and drinks along the road for the

past year, said he saw one large tapir that had been knocked down by a

vehicle which was later hauled away in a tractor in January.

 

He said another smaller tapir died while its companion was badly injured in

another accident.

 

Habsah said the relocation of the animals had been planned to start earlier

and the department had forwarded a proposal and a budget to UiTM for the

programme.

 

However, she said it had taken a while for the budget to be approved and in

the meantime clearing work for the construction of the campus had proceeded.

 

Habsah said determining the population of tapir in the area required a study

that would be time consuming considering the vastness of the Bukit Cerakah

forest reserve.

 

" The urgent task at hand is to relocate the animals to safer ground as

quickly as possible, " she said.

 

Sources said that there have been at least seven cases of tapir being killed

in accidents in the area since early 2003.

 

The Bukit Cerakah forest reserve was an area well known as home to tapirs.

The male species could reach 300kg but the tapir is usually an elusive

animal which is difficult to trap. The animals are known to come out of the

forests at night and end up along the road.

 

The tapir is a totally protected animal in Malaysia. It is listed in

Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of

Wild Fauna and Flora which means it is threatened with extinction.

 

It is also listed as " vulnerable " in the International Union for the

Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources' Red List.

 

 

New Straits Times » Local

 

Finding a way to save tapirs

Elizabeth John and Arman Ahmad

 

SHAH ALAM, May 13:

 

Tapirs from the Bukit Cer-akah Forest Reserve were forced on to the Shah

Alam to Bandar Baru Puncak Alam road because their habitat has been

encroached on from all sides by development.

 

Dr Dino Sharma, National Programme Director for the World Wide Fund for

Nature, said merely translocating the animals to another place was not the

answer especially since there has been no study done to ascertain the number

still living there.

 

" The zoos may get filled up ... is it where they should be?, " he asked.

 

He pointed out that the tapirs are easily traumatised and moving them from

one area to another may result in their deaths.

 

The New Straits Times reported yesterday that small blue signboards lining

the Shah Alam — Bandar Baru Puncak Alam road may be all that stands between

the endangered tapir and speeding motorists who killed at least seven since

last year.

 

The signboards were erected in April after the death of three tapirs on the

road that cuts through what was once the Bukit Cerakah Forest Reserve. Among

the developments in the area are several housing estates, the road and a

campus for Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).

 

Dino said the development in the area and the building of the road was

forcing the animals out of the jungles resulting in some of these dazed

animals being run over or hit by vehicles.

 

Dino said their chances of survival in their shrunken habitat were slim and

the animals are known to stop breeding if their environment is disturbed.

 

Malaysian Nature Society president Datuk Dr Salleh Mohd Nor said many people

are concerned over the reported seven deaths of the tapirs and added that

the figures were alarming since the population distribution of the animals

was unknown.

 

" The presence of roads, cutting through forested areas has always been a

cause of accidents involving wildlife. Forest segmentation and surrounding

pressures drive the animals out of their habitat. As it stands forest areas

and reserves are shrinking although the National Forestry Act, 1984 requires

the replacement of forest reserves claimed for other purposes, " he said.

 

He attributed the shrinking forest areas to dubious and subjective

interpretation of the Act by decision making authorities.

 

He said the only option was to relocate all the tapirs to a similar habitat,

far removed from roads and human destruction.

 

" The current incidents are an indicator of how little is known about our

wildlife distribution. More studies should be done to understand the

distribution and population of tapirs in Malaysia, " he said.

 

UiTM vice-chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Ibrahim Abu Samah also expressed

concern over the deaths of tapirs near the site of its campus but pointed

out that it was not the only development in the area.

 

" There are many other development projects in the area and many began long

before the UiTM project came into being. We would not want anything to

happen to the tapirs and are concerned about the situation. We will ensure

that all rules are complied with. " Selangor Wildlife Department director

Habsah Muda said an EIA report for the project was submitted which had

stated that there were tapirs in the area and had proposed a relocation

exercise.

 

" We also sent a team headed by an officer from the Wildlife and National

Parks Department to verify the information provided in the EIA report, " she

said.

 

Habsah also confirmed that there were three cases of tapirs being knocked

down in the area surrounding the proposed development and several other

reports of tapir killings had been received since last year but not near the

project site.

 

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