M. Hamzah Jamaludin New Straits Times 17 Apr 11;
KUANTAN: It is quite hard to check poaching in the vast jungles of Pahang, but close cooperation between the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan), non-governmental organisations and the public has made the job easier.
State Perhilitan director Khairiah Mohd Shariff said NGOs have also helped create awareness among the public and the Orang Asli.
"We were having difficulties in preventing the Orang Asli from being exploited, but with the help of NGOs, many of them have realised that it is an offence to capture protected species."
Khairiah said it was difficult to take the Orang Asli to court as they did not live in one place or understand the law.
Khairiah said public awareness on the issue had improved and many people had contacted the department and the NGOs to report poaching activities.
Among the most active NGOs are those under the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers or Mycat.
Mycat members include the Malaysian Nature Society, the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network (Traffic) Southeast Asia and World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF)-Malaysia. Mycat is being supported by Perhilitan for joint implementation of the National Tiger Action Plan for Malaysia.
Khairiah said the recent success in the arrest of a restaurant owner in Kuala Lipis for possession of tiger parts and other exotic animal meat was due to public tip-off and cooperation from the NGOs.
During the raid, the Perhiltan team found bottles containing tiger skin and claws, believed to have been part of the exotic delicacies served at the restaurant.
It is learnt that tigers could fetch up to RM300,000 each on the black market.
They also found 17kg of barking deer meat, two skinned mousedeers, 54 pheasant feathers and a live white-breasted waterhen.
Traffic senior communications officer Elizabeth John said many of the NGOs had organised awareness programmes for the Orang Asli to ensure that they would not be exploited by poachers.
"Some prefer to contact the NGOs as they want to remain anonymous.
"We will immediately inform Perhilitan when we receive such information."
Elizabeth said those with information on poaching and trafficking of animals, particularly tigers, can contact MYCAT hotline number at 019-3564194.
