DECEMBER 27 — As one who is deeply concerned about the fate of our wildlife, I urge the authorities to take concrete and prompt actions to address issues that are affecting the population of wild animals especially roadkill, apart from poaching and smuggling activities
We must stress on human behavioural change to help stop wildlife roadkill and illegal trade.
Wildlife and vehicles just don’t mix but the construction of new roads across wildlife habitats means that more species may be hit by vehicles than ever before.
The latest incident occurred on Dec 24, when an adult sun bear was struck and killed by a motorcycle at Km347.5 of the East Coast Expressway 2 (LPT2) near the Kuala Dungun interchange about 7pm.
At about 4am on the same day, a 100kg tapir was killed when it was hit by a vehicle at Kilometer 12 of Jalan Gua Musang-Kuala Krai, Gua Musang. In both cases, the rider and the driver were also injured.
Two days earlier (December 22), another tapir died after being hit by a car at Kilometer 20 of Jalan Seremban-Kuala Pilah near Ulu Bendul at 4.30am.
The authorities need to take immediate action since the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN) records show that there are 61 road and highway networks which have recorded roadkill cases. Five routes that have frequent wildlife roadkill cases are Jalan Kuala Lipis-Gua Musang, Jalan Kulai-Kota Tinggi, Jalan Gua Musang-Kuala Krai, East Coast Expressway 2 (LPT2) and Jalan Taiping-Selama.
The authorities should emulate the solutions introduced in some countries to reduce roadkill including installing wildlife detectors that will trigger flashing signs when an animal was detected near the road.
Reflective stickers should also be placed on the animal’s GPS collar so that they are easier to be seen in the dark.
The authorities should also install speed bumps and speed cameras and introduce light-coloured road in wildlife-rich areas to help reduce roadkill.
With the help of IT experts, the authorities could also develop mobile apps that work together with Waze and Google Maps to warn drivers of the presence of wildlife.
Drivers should be more cautious when driving along the stretch that traverses the forest. The animals may not know the risk but we as human beings should be more considerate of their lives as part of our eco-system.
The construction of new land transport routes, including the High Speed Rail (HSR) project between Malaysia and Singapore and the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) should also take into account the impact on wildlife.
On wildlife trade, the authorities should enforce the International Trade in Endangered Species Act 2008 (Intesa) which is one of the best wildlife trade laws as it provides stricter penalties and applies to both native and non-native animals.
I was also shocked to read the news on the sale of sun bear parts at the Lubok Antu 'pasar tamu' in Sri Aman Division recently,
It pains me to see the pictures of the adult male sun bear butchered into over 15 pieces and placed on a table next to a weighing machine.
The Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 should be amended to provide harsher penalties to poachers and wildlife traffickers.
Although the law, which was passed in 2010 to replace the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, is tough on lawbreakers, some quarters claimed that it is not deterrent enough.
Wildlife species have been declining, even within protected areas, due to poaching, illegal deforestation and roadkill.
The rise of social media and online trading portals makes the situation worse and we need to have a more comprehensive and stricter law to deter the culprits.
At the same time, we must also exploit the social media to create awareness among the public on the importance of our wildlife.
For the relevant laws to succeed, there must be public education and awareness efforts to encourage the public to fight against wildlife exploitation and appreciate their existence.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
