Best of our wild blogs: 12 Oct 18

Pilgrimage to an isle of legends
The Long and Winding Road

Kusu Island pilgrimage 9 Oct to 7 Nov 2018
wild shores of singapore

Read more!

First phase of Lornie Highway, also known as Bukit Brown Road, to open on Oct 28

Christopher Tan Straits Times 11 Oct 18;

SINGAPORE - After repeated delays, the first phase of the Lornie Highway - previously known as the Bukit Brown Road - will open on Oct 28.

The southbound section of the road, which runs parallel to Lornie Road, will facilitate traffic flow from Thomson towards the Pan-Island Expressway as well as Adam and Farrer roads.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Thursday (Oct 11) that an underpass constructed near the entrance of the highway will allow motorists to access the residential area along Lornie Road, while a temporary road connection near Sime Road has been built to connect traffic from the existing southbound Lornie Road to southbound Lornie Highway.

"With the opening of southbound Lornie Highway, motorists heading towards the PIE, Adam Road and Farrer Road are advised to use the new Lornie Highway to reach their destinations," the LTA said. "The existing southbound four-lane Lornie Road will progressively be downgraded to two lanes from Oct 28."

The new Lornie Highway, when fully completed by the first quarter of next year, will cater to expected growth in future traffic demand.

Bus services 52, 74, 93, 852 and 855, which currently ply Lornie Road towards Adam Road, will be adjusted to ply the new southbound Lornie Highway. Bus services 157 and 165 will continue to ply Lornie Road.

The existing bus stop along southbound Lornie Road, opposite Singapore Island Country Club, will also be relocated to the southbound Lornie Highway before Kheam Hock Road.

The northbound Lornie Highway towards MacRitchie Viaduct will be completed in phases, with the entire stretch expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2019.

The road project had already been delayed three times. It was announced in 2011, and at first slated to be completed by mid-2016, and then by the end of last year, and then in two phases from the third quarter of this year.

When the project was announced, it stirred up strong protests from nature and heritage groups because it cut across the forested Bukit Brown area and a cemetery where many Singapore pioneers are buried.

Read more!

Malaysia: Female elephant found dead in Sabah forest reserve, believed to have died in fight

stephanie lee The Star 11 Oct 18;

KOTA KINABALU: A female elephant has been found dead at the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve in Tawau.

The elephant, estimated to be between 12 and 15 years old, is believed to have died from injuries sustained after a fight within her herd.

Sabah Wildlife Department public relation officer Siti Nur'ain Ampuan Acheh said they were alerted to the dead elephant on Oct 8 and sent a team to check.

"We went in to find the carcass a day later (Oct 9). Based on the physical condition of the elephant, we believe that it died more than five days ago," she said in a statement.

She said a post-mortem examination later found that there were no bullet wounds on the elephant but there were cracks on its skull and other injuries to its head, nasal and other areas.

"This severe head trauma might have caused severe bleeding inside its head, which led to its death," she said.

She said such injuries were most likely due to fights within the herd.

Earlier, plantation workers reported that they saw about 40 elephants in surrounding areas before discovering the carcass.


Another dead elephant found in Sabah
Olivia Miwil New Straits Times 11 Oct 18;

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah recorded its 27th elephant death this year when another wild elephant was found dead in the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve in Tawau.

The female elephant was estimated to be between 12 to 15 years old and was found dead on Monday by a Berjaya Sdn Bhd employee who then informed the Sabah Wildlife Department.

The department's public relations officer Siti Nur'ain Ampuan Acheh said acting on the information, a team of investigators were deployed to the location.

The team included veterinary officers as well as the department's staff members tasked with investigating the matter and conduct a post-mortem.

"Based on the physical condition of the carcass, the almost two metre high animal was believed to have been dead for more than five days.

"Checks did not find any physical wounds or bullet entry points. The team also used a metal detector to trace if there are any metals inside the carcass," Siti Nur'ain said in a statement today.

She added that post-mortem report however found fractures in the elephant's head.

Apart from that, the left bone was also severed from the skull, adding that all these pointed to signs of the elephant having sustained strong blows to the head.

"Severe head injuries are believed to have resulted in nerve damages which then led to bleeding and subsequently death.

"There is a large possibility there was a fight with another elephant which led to its death," she said.

According to her, plantation workers in the area had also reported a sighting of some 40 elephants there prior to the discovery of the dead female elephant.

Read more!

Malaysia: Works ongoing to track and translocate 62 elephants in Lahad Datu plantations

Hazsyah Abdul Rahman New Straits Times 11 Oct 18;

LAHAD DATU: Sabah Wildlife Department and plantation workers are still working on tracking and translocating a herd of elephants that have encroached into palm oil plantations in Ulu Segama, near here.

The department's director Augustine Tuuga said there are actually 62 elephants roaming around the location and not 40, as per an initial estimate.

He informed that the elephants have divided into five smaller groups.

Because of this, Augustine said it is making the effort to translocate the elephants to the Kawag or Ulu Segama Forest Reserves more difficult.

“For now, among affected plantation areas are Transkina, Agro Chem and farms located in between the Kaeag and Mesuli Forest Reserves,” he said when contacted by NSTP.

Last Saturday, NSTP had reported that about 40 elephants had entered the plantations since Oct 1.

One of them suffered injuries on its leg believed to be inflicted by a snare trap.

Augustine added those elephants could have gone to the plantations as workers were chopping old palm oil trees which are the animals' favourite food.

The herd was also reported to be in the Mesuli Forest Reserve in the morning and wander off to plantation areas from evening to dawn.

“The number of staff has been increased to nine and assisted by plantation workers.

“The way to chase them is by the sounds of gun firing, bon fires, vehicles and heavy machineries,” he added.

Read more!

Indonesia: Bear attacks couple in Riau rubber plantation

Rizal Harahap The Jakarta Post 11 Oct 18;

A husband and wife extracting latex in a plantation in Kuantan Singingi, Riau, were attacked by a bear on Wednesday.

Abu Hanifah, 56, and Lastri, 42, suffered severe injuries and are currently undergoing medical treatment at Teluk Kuantan General Hospital.

According to Kuantan Singingi Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Fibri Karpiananto, the bear first attacked Abu and clawed his face. Lastri, who was tapping rubber at the other side of the plantation, came to help her husband after he cried for help.

“She tried to help her husband to shoo the bear, but the bear started attacking her instead and she sustained a gash in her left thigh. Both of them were shouting for help while trying to drive the animal away,” Fibri said on Thursday.

Their shouts were heard by other workers at the plantation, two of whom, Riko and Amri, found the couple covered in blood when they came to help. They took the couple home to their village located 8 kilometers from the plantation.

“The witnesses did not see the bear, since the animal had already left the location by the time they arrived,” Fibri said.

The Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA Riau) later dispatched a team to the scene to investigate the bear’s presence.

BKSDA Riau spokesperson Dian Indriati said the team had not been able to locate the bear as of Thursday morning.

“We didn’t find any traces or scratches in the location since the area was dark yesterday,” she said.

Based on information from local residents, Dian added, bear sightings in the area are actually quite common but there is no record of conflict prior to this incident. (dpk)

Read more!

Indonesia: 1,453 families affected by flooding in Langkat, N Sumatra

Antara 11 Oct 18;

Langkat, N Sumatra (ANTARA News) - Floods triggered by incessant heavy rains have hit four sub-districts in Langkat District, North Sumatra Province, and affected 1,453 families.

The four flood-affected sub-districts, were Stabat, Binjai, Secanggang and Tanjungpura,Irwan Sahri, head of the Langkat disaster mitigation office, said in Stabat, here, Thursday.

In Stabat, flood waters reaching a height of up to one meter, inundated Karang Rejo village and Kwala Begumit village.

In Binjai, flood submerged Sidomulyo village. In Secanggan, Karang Anyar, Perkotaan, Karang Gading, and Kepala Sungai villages were flooded. In Tanjungpura, floods inundated Pematang Srrai and Paya Perupuk villages.

Meanwhile, floods also submerged rice fields measuring a total of 118 hectares in Stabat and Binjai Sub-districts on Wednesday.

The flooding was triggered by incessant heavy rains that caused Sei Blengking river and Kapal Keruk river to spill over their banks, Miswandi, a local agriculture officer, said.

In Stabat, 78 hectares of rice fields located in Pantai Gemi, Sidomulyo, Ara Condong, and Kwala Bingei villages, were inundated.

"In this sub-district, local farmers had just planted paddies, but downpours caused Sei Blengking river to overflow and submerged the farmers` paddies," he said.

Besides, seven hectares of corn fields located in Banyumas and Kwala Bingei villages in Stabat, were also flooded.

In Binjai, flood affected 40 hectares of rice fields in Suka Makmur and Sambirejo villages.

The local agriculture office has deployed several officers to monitor the condition of flood-affected farming areas in Langkat and to help local farmers.

Reporting by Imam Fauzi
Editing by Fardah, Eliswan

Editor: Fardah Assegaf

Read more!

Indonesia: Fresh quake shakes East Java, Bali, kills three

Karina M. Tehusijarana The Jakarta Post 11 Oct 18;

At least three people have died following a 6.4-magnitude earthquake in East Java that was felt in Bali and Lombok in the early hours of Thursday.

According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) the quake was felt at 01:57 a.m. local time with an epicenter in the ocean 55 kilometers northeast of Situbondo regency, East Java, at a depth of 12 kilometers. No tsunami alert was issued.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has confirmed that three people have died as a result of the earthquake: a seven-year-old boy, a 55-year-old woman and an as-yet-unidentified adult man, all located in Prambanan village, Gayam district, Sumenep regency.

"The victims died after being crushed by a collapsed building," BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement. "The victims were sleeping when the earthquake suddenly hit and caused the house to collapse so the victims could not escape."

Several houses and at least one mosque in Sumenep regency are also reported to be damaged.

The quake was felt throughout East Java and also in parts of Bali and Lombok.

The Nusa Dua Command Center, which was set up to secure the ongoing International Monetary Fund-World Bank Annual Meetings, reported that there were no significant impacts on infrastructure in Nusa Dua, Bali.

Read more!

Local fishermens’ livelihoods threatened as developments like Forest City ‘shrink’ the sea

Today Online 9 Oct 18;

TANJUNG KUPANG (Johor) — Like his father and his grandfather, Mr Shalan Ju'at is a fisherman. But he will not allow his children to follow in his footsteps.

"Why? Because the sea has shrunk," he said.

The 25-year old Mr Shalan is among many in Tanjung Kupang, Johor, whose livelihoods — and seafaring legacy — are threatened by development, such as the expansion of the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) and more recently, the mammoth Forest City project, just across the border with Singapore, which began construction in 2016.

Much of the 1,380ha Forest City as well as the PTP expansion are built on land reclaimed from the sea, where the fishermen cast their nets.

Beneath the elevated Tanjung Pelepas Highway leading to Forest City's main entrance, small clusters of ramshackle kampung houses, some of which are abandoned, form a striking contrast to the US$100 billion (S$138 billion) Forest City.

"We have been relocated three times," Mr Shalan told The Malaysian Insight at the tiny Kampung Pendas jetty.

"If they try to move us again, I think the fishermen will revolt."

Mr Shalan said that prior to 2012, before the PTP expansion encroached onto the sea banks, a fisherman was able to take home a catch of at least 50kg of flower crabs. Today, the haul has been reduced to as low as 2kg. Sometimes they even go home empty-handed.

"The fishermen are forced to venture further out, sometimes putting their lives at risk due to unpredictable sea conditions, or when they trespass into Indonesian or Singaporean waters.

"It is dangerous, and I myself dare not do it. But many have no choice because they are no longer able to rely on the catch in these waters."

He said many fishermen here, burdened with higher cost of living, take up multiple jobs to make ends meet. Some double up as taxi drivers, others take tourists seafishing.

In an interview with The Malaysian Insight, Forest City spokesman Ng Zhu Hann said the project developer Country Garden Pacificview (CGPV) had paid large amounts in cash and in kind to compensate those living in the villages neighbouring the development.

"We have engaged with the fishermen's association very closely… If there's anything our project does that affects their livelihood, we make sure their livelihoods are taken care of with the necessary compensation," he said.

Mr Ng, who is the strategy director, said besides the fishermen, other locals have also benefited from the company's contribution.

"We work very closely with the heads of the village. We do corporate social responsibility projects, donate to the local religious facilities such as the surau and mosque.

"In terms of education… (the village) schools are heavily supported by us, not only in their operations, but also in the education of the students – the language classes, the extra classes. Apart from that, we help build facilities such as the wakaf," he said.

Documents sighted by The Malaysian Insight showed CGPV had paid out at least RM4 million in cash to the South Johor Fishermen's Association. A local conservation non-government organisation, Kelab Alami, which MR Shalan heads, received about RM200,000 (S$66,568).

Mr Shalan said Kelab Alami used the money to fund conservation programmes, as well as some programmes that help fishermen increase their catch.

On how the money for the fishermen's association was distributed, Mr Shalan said not everyone got a share.

"The association said that only the 'real' fishermen who are licensed will be given a portion of the money, and that they will conduct interviews to determine who qualifies," he said.

"But there are some fishermen who really needed help, and their whole livelihood depended on their catch at sea, but they didn't get any money. Then there are those who don't even go out to sea, but received money."

Mr Shalan and his wife eke out a living on her salary as a teacher and his as a middleman selling the fisherrmen's catch from his wooden home in Kampung Pendas.

Mr Johari Lasim, who is known as Pak Atan, has been fishing off the coast of Tanjung Kupang for 54 years, since he was just 13. Like many others in the area, he comes from a long line of fishermen.

At 67, with his children grown up and none of them fishermen, Pak Atan has laid down his nets and only fishes for recreation.

Although he feels sad that the coastal area which once provided sustenance to generations of his family is now gone, he is less critical of the on-going developments.

"We just have to accept it. Hopefully the fishermen here will be fairly compensated and not neglected," he said.

But for the younger folk like Mr Shalan, the future seems bleak and hopeless. He is reluctant to move away from his ancestral home to seek a better living, but hints that there might be no other way.

"There is no certainty that this place will even exist in the near future. Even if we wanted to fight this, we are mere fishermen, we don't have the means."

"Like I said, the sea has shrunk, and we have to think long-term." THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT

Read more!

Woman bitten by python on second storey of Sembawang HDB block

Timothy Goh Straits Times 10 Oct 18;

SINGAPORE - It was around 4am on Tuesday (Oct 9) when Mrs Chan Yin Ha was looking for her cat on the second storey of the Sembawang Drive Housing Board block she lives in.

As she searched among a row of potted plants, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her left leg. Thinking her cat had scratched her, she kicked out instinctively and looked down.

It was then that she saw what bit her was a 3m-long python.

The 42-year-old store assistant, who is afraid of snakes, told The Straits Times that she "freaked out" when she saw the python.

"I thought it would coil around me," she said, adding that she was terrified and immediately ran away from the snake.

Fortunately, the snake did not pursue her. Mrs Chan then ran to her neighbour's unit to get help but nobody answered the door when she knocked.

She then returned to her third storey home, bleeding profusely.

Pest control attempts to catch a snake at Blk 470 Sembawang Drive

Her family members helped her wash her wounds and called for an ambulance.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said that it received a call for assistance at 4.04am in the area.

Mrs Chan's neighbour on the second storey eventually opened the door after she had already left, and the neighbour found her slipper at the doorstep and a trail of blood along the corridor, Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao reported.

Thinking that there had been a fight, the neighbour called the police.

When the police arrived, they followed the trail of blood to Mrs Chan's residence, where they were told about the python. Mrs Chan said that the police then called a pest control agency for assistance.

According to Wanbao, the python retreated into a water pipe. The pest control agency later arrived and poured hot water into the pipe to force the snake out.

The snake fled into a drain on the ground floor, where it was caught by the agency.

Mrs Chan told ST that she was taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, where she received stitches and was placed under observation for a few hours. She was later given four days' medical leave and is now recovering.

The store assistant said that this is not the first time a snake was spotted near her home.

Mrs Chan said that in 2016, she encountered another snake in the drain on the ground floor of her block. At the time, she spoke with the town council, which called in a pest control company to remove the snake. She also gave feedback to the town council following the most recent incident.

Mrs Chan said her cat eventually returned home safely. Noting that there is a forested area near her housing estate, she added that she would try not to let her cat out of the flat too often as she fears for both its safety and hers after the snake encounter.

Read more!

Malaysia: Living in harmony with elephants

Borneo Post 9 Oct 18;

KOTA KINABALU: Locals can now find ways to live in harmony with the elephants.

“We can now contribute geoinformatics data to inform wildlife mitigation projects,” said Romineshon Kumpil, an active member of the Community Elephant Ranger Team (CERT) based in Telupid.

With Sabah’s 26th elephant death recorded this year, passionate people are what the state needs most to explore and test community-based solutions for mitigating human-elephant conflicts.

Formed in March 2018, CERT deploys citizen science for the practical management and monitoring of elephant migrations between Telupid, Beluran and Tongod.

CERT comprises of trained volunteers from the villages the elephants visit, namely Kg Liningkung, Kg Bauto, Kg Gambaron and Kg Telupid.

Instead of defining the issue as conflict, CERT chose to name their project Human-Elephant Harmony (HEH) and CERT is known locally as ‘Kopisuladan di Yaki’ meaning friendship between villagers and elephants in Dusun Labuk dialect.

The HEH is a 22-month capacity building project funded by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry through Forever Sabah under the National Conservation Trust Fund (NCTF) scheme.

The project is carried out in partnership with Dr Nurzhafarina Othman (Seratu Aatai Project), Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), HUTAN-Kinabatangan Orang Utan Conservation Project, Sabah Forestry Department and Sabah Wildlife Department.

The ultimate aim of HEH is to transform conflict into harmony, thus creating a sustainable model to support humans and elephants co-existent in the landscape.

The project stems from a nine-month consultation exercise facilitated by Forever Sabah from March to November 2016 with the Telupid District Office, government agencies and local communities in response to increasing numbers of disturbing incidents.

The locals shared that as far back as 1972, elephants were known to live on a flat area named Gana close to the Labuk River in Telupid.

Following a huge forest fire in 1985, the locals observed that the herds had moved out of Gana and were not seen in Telupid for many years.

In 2014, elephants reappeared in Kampung Bauto.

By 2016, the locals observed elephants on an average of every three weeks.

Locals believe there are now over 100 elephants visiting the Telupid area.

Most recently, a sub-adult elephant wandering into SMK Telupid’s canteen made headlines in March 2018.

Elephant herd movement data is still being collected and analysed to ascertain factors that influence herds’ distribution Telupid.

Big plantations can fence out the elephants, especially when the palms are young, but smallholders’ plots were often severely damaged.

Some villages and infrastructure lay in the elephants’ migration routes but the rural communities lacked the resources to solve these issues alone.

Likewise, complexity of the issue suggested it should best be addressed through a community-based platform.

The CERT team members are also concerned that the Pan-Borneo Highway routing in Telupid would further aggravate the problem.
Harrowing video footage on social media has already shown a young elephant separated from its herd while trying to cross the existing highway.

CERT has geoinformatics data to show that the proposed Pan-Borneo Highway routing overlaps with the natural trails that are heavily used by the herds.

Besides cutting off elephant migration routes, roads built in inappropriate area will cause vehicular accidents with elephants, especially during night time when visibility is low.

CERT is now attempting to map out the hierarchical social structure of each herd in Telupid.

The herds may interact, divide or reform over the course of weeks or months due to environmental pressures.

The study result is expected to advance the understanding of overall elephant distribution pattern in Sabah.

Currently, CERT is working with Sabah Forestry Department, Sabah Wildlife Department and the Telupid district office for collecting field data to inform the design and routing of electric fences.

“Landscape changes create the type of ripple effects that passes a problem from one place to another”, said Claudia Lasimbang, the project facilitator of HEH.

“It is imperative that any new development, whether for infrastructure or industrial crop, should consider the inputs and engagement with the local indigenous community who understand local wildlife more than anyone else,” she added.

Read more!

Malaysia: Malayan tigers in danger

Sharifah Mahsinah Abdullah New Straits Times 10 Oct 18;

HUNTING Malayan tigers in remote forests is still rampant due to the high demand for them in neighbouring country.

Many villagers living in Dabong, Gua Musang, claimed that foreign poachers started hunting Malayan tigers a few months ago and sold them for RM20,000 each.

A villager, who only wanted to be known as Osman, 48, said the foreigners worked on a vegetable farm owned by a local in Gua Musang.

“They started hunting for the protected species after they spotted the animal roaming the vegetable farm.

“They managed to capture a tiger rec ently and sold its carcass to one of the traders in a neighbouring country for RM20,000,” he told the New Straits Times Press here yesterday.

Osman said the foreigners started to hunt Malayan tigers after learning they could fetch a handsome price from traders in the neighbouring country.

He said besides tigers, the foreigners also hunted other exotic animals, such as pangolins and snakes.

“The demand for exotic animals is high, not only to be served as food but also for medical purposes,” said the farmer.

It was reported last month that the price of a Malayan tiger could fetch up to RM1 million each.

Its meat was said to be nutritious.

This has caused the dwindling of the already small Malayan tiger population in the country.

Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar was reported to have said the species was highly prized overseas as it could be used in medicine.

He said Malayan tigers also received demand from the black market.

Dr Xavier said he would instruct his officials to hold a meeting with the army, police, Wildlife and National Parks Department to discuss the issue.

Read more!

Cost of climate-linked disasters soars: UN

AFP Yahoo News 10 Oct 18;

Geneva (AFP) - The economic cost of climate-related disasters hit $2.25 trillion over the last two decades, an increase of more than 150 percent compared to the previous 20 years, the UN said Wednesday.

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) noted that "climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events" such as floods and storms.

Between 1978-1997, total losses for climate-related disasters was $895 billion (780 billion euros), UNISDR said in a report based on data compiled by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) at the Universite Catholique de Louvain in Belgium.

But between 1998-2017 that figure hit $2.25 trillion, the report said, listing the United States, China, Japan and India as the countries where the financial toll has been highest.

The findings were released as Michael, a Category Four hurricane, rumbled towards the Gulf Coast of Florida, in the latest storm to threaten vast destruction across the eastern US.

"The report's analysis makes it clear that economic losses from extreme weather events are unsustainable and a major brake on eradicating poverty in hazard exposed parts of the world," the UN secretary general's special representative for disaster reduction, Mami Mizutori, said in a statement.

UNISDR counted the number of climate-related disasters between 1998-2017 at more than 6,600, with storms and floods the most common events.

The report notes gaps in data collection, but says the findings clearly show investing in disaster risk reduction must become a central part of policy making in response to climate change.

Read more!