Perak to gazette 'fenced up' wetlands park

Foong Thim Leng, The Star 26 Sep 09;

IPOH: The state government will gazette the Kinta Nature Park (KNP) as a wildlife sanctuary to prevent encroachment,

State Tourism Committee chairman Datuk Hamidah Osman said gazetting the park would not take much time as the groundwork for it had been prepared when Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli Ghazali was the Perak mentri besar.

“We will have to decide on which agency would manage and upgrade the facilities,” she told reporters after inspecting the park in Batu Gajah following complaints received from the Perak branch of the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) yesterday.

“It will be a waste if a potential tourist attraction is neglected. The park is said to be the best place for bird watching in Malaysia.

“It is home to more than 130 species of birds and has the largest heronry in the country on one of its islands,” she said.

It was reported in The Star on Tuesday that the the park will lose the heronry if illegal activities continue there.

Almost 60% of the birds in the park are listed as totally protected or protected under the Protection of Wild Life Act 1976.

A recent check by the MNS revealed that someone had fenced up the whole lake where the heronry, with five breeding species of 2,000 waterbirds, is located with the intention of starting commercial fish farming.

The MNS had complained that pristine mining pools at the southern end of the Park have been taken over by duck farms and that incursions by sand extraction activities have increased.

The lack of a management body had resulted in the park’s infrastructure being damaged and fallen into disrepair.

Hamidah said the Park was managed by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan).

”We would like the park to be managed by the Kampar district office with Perhilitan playing a monitoring role,” said Hamidah.

She agreed to look into a suggestion by MNS to place the park under the Perak State Parks Cor­poration.

Duck farms operating without a permit would have to stop operations Hamidah said, adding that she would discuss with the Kampar District Office not to renew the permits for sand mining in the park.

Accompanying her were MNS Perak branch vice-chairman Lee Ping Kong, MNS council member Tan Chin Tong and ornithologist Lim Kim Chye who is the MNS Perak Branch bird group coordinator.