Malaysia: Oil Palm planters 'not killing off wildlife'

Roy Goh New Straits Times 12 Aug 12;

ENFORCEMENT: Sabah has always been proactive in monitoring wildlife and enforcing laws against poachers

KOTA KINABALU: THERE are no tigers or tapirs in Sabah but the authorities have been blamed for failing to act against those who killed these animals in the wild.

They have also been accused of covering up the deaths of 300 orang utans killed by oil palm planters in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary because they were paid big sums of money by the industry.

The series of allegations by British-based Nature Alert undermined efforts by the state Wildlife Department as well as non-governmental organisations who dedicate their life to wildlife conservation.

On top of that, in most of the allegations made through statements that were sent via the Internet to media organisations, photographs of injured orang utans in Indonesia were used to accompany the articles about Sabah.

State Wildlife director Dr Laurentius Ambu said the state has always been proactive in monitoring wildlife and enforcing laws against poachers.

"The illegal killing of critically endangered species such as orang utans has become a rarity in Sabah.

"We would be more than happy to work hand-in-hand with organisations such as Traffic (the wildlife trade monitoring network) and hope that they would share any evidence regarding poaching or even trade of orang utans in Sabah.

"We will definitely take action and prosecute the culprits," added Laurentius who also pointed out that allegations that 300 orang utans were killed due to the expansion of oil palm plantations in Lower Kinabatangan was not true.

"The fact that the 25,000ha sanctuary has been totally protected since 2002 is direct testimony of the falsehood of this baseless allegation."

Dr Marc Ancrenaz of Hutan, a French-based NGO working in Sabah for the past 12 years, stressed; "The idea that 300 orang utans were killed or poached by people whether from the oil palm plantations or by hunters is preposterous."

"Through one of our first projects that Hutan initiated, we trained more than 50 villagers and they are now permanently monitoring wildlife activities in the sanctuary.

"If 300 orang utans had been illegally killed in oil palm plantations, we would know it," Ancrenaz said.

Dr Sen Nathan, senior field veterinarian for the Sabah Wildlife Department, said since 1991, more than 400 orang utans had been rescued and translocated from areas earmarked for agricultural conversion to protected forest reserves.

"This, however, has become a rarity because of greater awareness on the importance of the conservation of orang utans.

"We strongly advise our critics to come to Sabah and see for themselves how much the Sabah Wildlife Department and partners are doing towards wildlife conservation," suggested Nathan.

"Rather than constantly criticising the conservation efforts of orang utan in Sabah why not work together as I do believe our ultimate goal is to save this species," he said.