Roy Goh New Straits Times 30 Oct 11;
KINABATANGAN: The construction of seven bridges in eight years has made a difference in the effort to ensure the survival of the orang utans here.
This temporary measure has helped the primates and other species to move within forests fragmented by man-made rivers.
Sabah Wildlife director Dr Laurentius Ambu said ultimately, however, reconnecting forests via corridors or patches of forests was the next crucial step to better preserving wildlife in the state.
“Even though it will be an expensive and long process, reconnecting isolated populations which were originally linked together, will ensure the long-term survival of not only orang utans but other unique species, such as the Bornean Pygmy Elephants, the sunbears, the clouded leopards and many others,” he said.
Surveys carried out by the department and non-governmental organisation, Hutan-KOCP (Kinabatangan Orang Utan Conservation Programme), shows that there are 700 orang utans within protected and non-protected areas of the lower Kinabatangan.
Sabah has an estimated 11,000 orang utans, which is 80 per cent of the nation’s wild orang utans.
However, due to agricultural activities, many forests are fragmented, trapping animals such as the orang utans because of their inability to swim.
To tackle this problem, rope bridges were built for orang utans to cross small rivers and large drains since 2003, and also to connect pockets of isolated forest, said Azri Awang of Hutan-KOCP.
In the past, orang utans would use old-growth forests as “nat ur al br idges” over small rivers.
However, at present, orang utans no longer have this luxury since most of the tall trees in such forests have been logged.
Oil palm plantations had also contributed to the isolation of the orang utans when large drains were built to draw off excess water from the plantations, Azri said, adding that there was no other way for the species to make it through such obstacles, making the bridges vital for their survival.
Since then, seven bridges had been built with the help from or - ganisations, such as Danau Girang Field Centre, Chester Zoo of the United Kingdom, Borneo Conservation Trust, Shining Hope Foundation, Ropeskills Rigging Sdn Bhd, Barefoot Lodge of Sukau and Cleveland Metroparks Zoo of the United States.
According to Dr Marc Ancrenaz, co-director of Hutan-KOCP, oil palm companies could actually reverse the situation if they adopted the recommendations of the Wildlife Depar tment.
“In May last year, at the conclusion of the state Action Plan workshop, the Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister stated that he would like to see plantations, particularly those located in the Kinabatangan, to set aside at least 500m along riverbanks for wildlife corridors,” said Ancrenaz, who has been working on wildlife issues in Sabah since 1998.
“Using rope bridges is a quick fix, but eventually the most ideal solution will be to reconnect the forests and we are all working on this,” he said.
“And when I say ‘we ’, I mean everyone from the government sector to environmental non-governmental organisations and the palm oil industry as well.” Furthermore, genetic modelling carried out jointly by Hutan-KOCP, Wildlife Department, Cardiff University and DGFC had shown that unless action was taken urgently to reconnect these species, most of the iso - lated orang utan population within the lower Kinabatangan would go extinct within our lifetime.
Learning the ropes to save the orang utan
The Star 30 Oct 11;
KOTA KINABALU: Wildlife researchers have turned to Britain to literally learn the ropes in orang utan conservation in the lower Kinabatangan region in Sabah's east coast.
The researchers here had noted that the ropes used at the orang utan enclosures of the Chester Zoo reputedly Britain's top zoo with over 7,000 animals and 400 different species were of lighter material, durable and able to withstand the sun's ultra-violet rays apart from being non-biodegradable.
British zoo officials visited here recently and, with the help of professional riggers, constructed seven rope bridges across rivers, streams and drains at various locations in lower Kinabatangan.
The rope bridges were to enable isolated groups of orang utan at various forest patches to move about freely.
The orang utan population had been trapped in isolated groups throughout lower Kinabatangan because the forest is split due to the actions of some oil palm companies that plant all the way down to the river banks.
Hutan-Kinabatangan orang utan conservation programme (KOCP) director Dr Marc Ancrenaz said since 2003, wildlife researchers had been experimenting with various rope materials including fire hoses from Japan and rope bridges of different designs to help the orangutans move from one forest patch to another.
“We found that they prefer to use the simple two line rope bridges,” said Dr Ancrenaz, a wildlife veterinarian.
He added that using rope bridges was only a quick fix as the most ideal solution would be to reconnect the forest pockets in the Kinabatangan area through the establishment of wildlife corridors.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Dr Laurentius Ambu said reconnecting the forest patches via jungle corridors was a crucial step.
“Even though it will be an expensive and long process, reconnecting isolated populations will ensure the long term survival of not only Sabah's orang utans but other unique species, such as the Bornean pygmy elephants, the sun bears and the clouded leopards,” Dr Laurentius said.
Wildlife researchers noted that genetic modelling, being carried out jointly by the department, Hutan-KOCP, Cardiff University and the Danau Girang Field Centre, showed that unless action was urgently taken to reconnect the isolated orang utan populations, they would soon become extinct.
Surveys carried out by the department and Hutan-KOCP showed that there were only 700 orang utans within the protected and non-protected areas of lower Kinabatangan.
Sabah has an estimated 11,000 orangutans.
