Malaysia: 41 clouded monitor lizards saved from cooking pot

New Straits Times 16 May 11;

MUADZAM SHAH: The state Department of Wildlife and National Parks' (Perhilitan) officers rescued 41 endangered clouded monitor lizards from a house in Bukit Serok here on Sunday.

Acting on a tip-off, an enforcement team found the reptiles in a shed near the house.

The lizards were believed to be destined for cooking pots in exotic meat restaurants overseas.

A 49-year-old man was also arrested during the raid.

It was learnt that the department had raided the shed on numerous occasions, but failed to arrest the man who was responsible for catching the lizards.

Sources in the department said the suspect was a middleman.

State Perhilitan director Khairiah Mohd Shariff said the lizards were believed to have been caught at a nearby oil palm plantation.

She said the lizards, which are on the endangered list, were considered a delicacy.

This was Perhilitan's second success in the fight against poachers of endangered animals in the last 24 hours.

On Saturday, a team led by enforcement officer Abu Zahrim Ismail, arrested a 39-year-old Orang Asli village headman in his house in Kampung Air Molek about 1am for allegedly poaching endangered animals and keeping their meat in a refrigerator.

Khairiah said the enforcement officers found chunks of leopard, bear and deer meat as well as slaughtered mousedeers in the village headman's house.