Malaysia: Beefing up prey for the predators

sim leoi leoi The Star 3 Jun 19;

PETALING JAYA: There are plans to ban hunting in more areas and cut down on open season for wild boar in a move to conserve wildlife, such as tigers.

The Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) has put forward these proposals as part of amendments to the Wildlife Conser­vation (Hunting Prohibited Areas) Order 2013 and Wildlife Conser­vation (Open Season, Methods and Times of Hunting) Order 2014.

“Perhilitan under the Water, Land and Natural Resources Min­istry is conducting a survey on the amendment process for the Wildlife Conservancy Act (Act 716) and wildlife conservation order under the supervision of the MPC (Malaysia Productivity Corporation),” said the department.

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Malaysia: Perhilitan nabs 11 poachers in four raids throughout May

m. kumar The Star 1 Jun 19;

PETALING JAYA: Eleven poachers were nabbed last month in an effort by the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) to combat poaching.

Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar said the arrests were made during four separate raids in Terengganu, Pahang and Kelantan, throughout May this year.

"Two locals were arrested on May 13 in Rompin, Pahang; six Myanmar nationals were nabbed in two raids on May 23 and May 27 at Gua Musang, Kelantan, and Sungai Yu, Pahang; and finally three Cambodians were detained on May 29 at a Terengganu national park," he said in a statement on his Instagram account on Saturday.

He said that the raids, codenamed Ops Belang, were conducted with the help of police and the General Operations Force (PGA).

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Malaysia and Indonesia will work together to save the Sumatran rhino

The Star 1 Jun 19;

SHAH ALAM (Bernama): The governments of Malaysia and Indonesia will both work together to ensure the success of the Sumatran rhino breeding programme in order to save the species in Sabah.

Deputy Water, Land and Natural Resources minister Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji said the collaboration is expected to be carried out by the end of this year to save the rhinoceros species from extinction.

"The Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia today is no longer able to produce new offspring, so the government will try to save the species from extinction.

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Malaysia: Nature lovers pay for sick turtle’s taxi fare from Kudat to Kota Kinabalu

muguntan vanar The Star 1 Jun 19;

KOTA KINABALU: A group of nature lovers in Kudat pooled money and paid for a taxi driver to bring an ill turtle to the Gaya Island Turtle Rescue Centre near here Saturday (June 1).

The turtle was brought to the centre at 3pm on Saturday after it was found to be unable to dive into the sea as it was suffering from "floaters syndrome", which also affects the turtle's appetite.

There is also a possibility that the turtle swallowed plastic.

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Malaysia: Injured pygmy elephant nursed back to health

The Star 3 Jun 19;

KOTA KINABALU: An injured juvenile male pygmy elephant, which villagers thought was dead, is being nursed back to health.

The elephant was found by Perdana Estate workers in Sabah’s central Telupid district on May 22, after which they alerted wildlife rangers.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said rangers went to the site and were surprised to find that the elephant was still alive.

“It turned out that the elephant had a wound on its back that was infested with maggots.

“Our rangers and vets immediately treated the wound as the elephant could not even stand,” he said when contacted.

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Malaysia: Perhilitan rescues female elephant stuck in mud pool

hanis zainal The Star 29 May 19;

PETALING JAYA: A short clip of Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia (Perhilitan) personnel freeing a female elephant stuck in a pool of mud has gone viral.

The 1-minute, 29-second clip, posted by Perhilitan on its Facebook page, was viewed more than 23,000 times in just six hours of it being posted.

The video shows a time lapse of the rescue operation, where an excavator is used to remove some mud around the animal and to dig a ramp out to solid ground.

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63-year-old man dies from dengue in 4th death this year

Channel NewsAsia 31 May 19;

SINGAPORE: A 63-year-old man has become the fourth person to die from dengue this year, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) said on Friday (May 31).

The man died on Wednesday, MOH and NEA added.

“The patient’s residence at Hougang Ave 1 is not an active dengue cluster. Nonetheless, vector control operations to kill adult mosquitoes and destroy any potential breeding habitats are ongoing,” MOH said.

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How Under Threat Singapore Is Taking Action to Battle Climate Change

Revathi Valluvar Bloomberg 31 May 19;

With almost one-third of Singapore just five meters above sea level, land reclamation isn’t only a way to create more space, it’s an environmental imperative. And while politicians elsewhere dither over climate change, the city-state is taking a decisive stance, rolling out a range of initiatives aimed at limiting the effects of global warming.

“It’s an existential threat,” Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong said in an interview Thursday.

Singapore, one of the world’s smallest nations, makes up for its lack of space by careful planning. A draft master plan released in March outlined a strategy to rejuvenate the island’s central area so that more people can live closer to work. It also proposed creating another 1,000 hectares of parks and park connectors so that in future, more than 90% of households will be within walking distance of a green space.

Wong said Thursday that Singapore has been successfully using polders, or dykes, to reclaim land. It’s a Dutch concept that’s cheaper than using sand to fill in the sea and better for low-lying areas.

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Malaysia: Environment and wildlife protection key to Sabah's economic growth

Olivia Miwil New Straits Times 31 May 19;

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah can sustain its positive tourism sector performance and growth by continuously protecting of its environment and wildlife, said economist Dr Rafiq Idris.

The Universiti Malaysia Sabah Business, Economics and Accountancy faculty senior lecturer said Sabah’s natural environment had contributed towards its big tourist numbers.

“People continuously visit Sabah because of its ‘nature’. The beautiful beaches, islands, mountain, waterfalls, jungles and wildlife among others are among the main reasons tourists come.

“Good environment and wildlife protection would attract tourists from around the globe to visit Sabah which has potential to further contribute to the state’s tourism sector significantly," he said in a statement.

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Thailand: Coral bleaching off Koh Phi Phi

Kritsada Mueanhawong The Thaiger 31 May 19;

Corals at Koh Phi Phi near a famous driving point has started to bleach.

Paranya Pantajit, a scuba expert in Krabi says, “Corals near a famous diving point at Koh Phi Phi is beaching. There are many marine lives living around this coral.”

“The temperature at 8 metres deep in the sea is about 31 degree Celsius. Corals in in other islands in Krabi have started to bleach as well.”

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Philippines ships dumped trash back to Canada

AFP 31 May 19;

Tonnes of garbage sent to the Philippines years ago was shipped back to Canada on Friday after a festering diplomatic row, as Asian nations increasingly reject serving as dumping grounds for international trash.

After a long campaign to urge Canada to take back the rotting waste, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte lashed out at Ottawa last week and ordered the refuse returned immediately.

The 69 shipping containers of garbage were loaded onto a cargo vessel at Subic Bay, a former US naval base and shipping port northwest of Manila, and began the lengthy trip to Canada.

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U.S. biologists probe deaths of 70 emaciated gray whales

Yereth Rosen, Reuters Yahoo News 1 Jun 19;

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - U.S. government biologists have launched a special investigation into the deaths of at least 70 gray whales washed ashore in recent months along the U.S. West Coast, from California to Alaska, many of them emaciated, officials said on Friday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared the whale die-off an "unusual mortality event," a designation that triggers greater scrutiny and allocation of more resources to determine the cause.

So far this year, 37 dead gray whales have turned up in California waters, three in Oregon, 25 in Washington state and five in Alaska, say officials of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. Five more were found in British Columbia.

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