JOHOR BARU, Oct 26 — The Johor Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) is actively carrying out its operations dubbed "Ops Bersepadu Khazanah" (OBK) statewide in its efforts to eradicate illegal poaching activities.
Its director Salman Saaban said the operations jointly carried out with the Royal Malaysia Police, focused on areas of illegal hunting hotspots such as the Endau-Rompin National Park and the Lenggor/Panti forest area near Kota Tinggi.
“Information from the public in helping authorities to detect wildlife hunting activities is needed,” he told Bernama here today.
On October 16, through an OBK operations, they arrested a Cambodian man who was believed to have encroached the Johor Endau-Rompin National Park.
“After conducting an inspection, among the items found were three parts of pork weighing 1.3kg which had been roasted, two pieces of pheasant feathers, one pack of what was believed to be wildlife meat weighing 500 grams that had been roasted and two units suspected to be wildlife fangs,” Salman added.
Also found were 162 nylon traps, one kilogramme of agarwood (gaharu), three axes, two machetes, one fishing net, a set of equipment to scrape agarwood bark, a passport and one UNHCR card unit in two different names and six sacks of rice.
The case will be investigated under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 (Act 716) and the Johor National Park Corporation Enactment 1989.
He said this while commenting on the decree issued by the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar today who wanted Perhilitan and other law enforcement agencies to increase patrol operations in the jungle area of Johor to curb illegal hunting activities.
Expressing his concern, Sultan Ibrahim said the state’s flora and fauna should be preserved and maintained.
‘’My warning to local hunters, foreign nationals and also Orang Asli...if they hunt tigers or other animals, then they will also be hunted,” he said.
His statement was uploaded by the Royal Press Office on his official Facebook page, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar.
On the the sightings of four tigers including two white tigers near Sungai Sayong, in Kota Tinggi, as highlighted by Sultan Ibrahim, Salman said he would monitor and investigate the matter further. — Bernama
