Best of our wild blogs: 4 Feb 19

The Malayan Jester - Permanent Resident?
Butterflies of Singapore

Chinese New Year Resolution – Let’s eat less of threatened seafood species!
Mei Lin NEO

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Indonesia: Borneo road, railway projects ‘world’s scariest environmental threat'

Kharishar Kahfi The Jakarta Post 3 Feb 19;

When President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo began his tenure in 2014, he uttered his wish to finish a number of infrastructure projects immediately, including the construction of a highway and a railway in Kalimantan.

With dense forests, mountains and many rivers, Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the Borneo island, is faced with transportation problems that have increased production costs. According to the Public Works and Housing Ministry, there were only 6,363 kilometers of main roads connecting cities and provinces across Kalimantan in 2014 and only 68 percent of them were in good condition.

The construction of roads in Kalimantan started in 2015 and, recently, concerns were raised by experts who said that such infrastructure projects were “the world’s scariest environmental threat” and could impact the lives of rare animal species such as orangutans and elephants.

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'Once-in-a-century' floods hit northeast Australia

AFP 3 Feb 19;

Once-in-a-century floods have turned streets into rivers and forced thousands to abandon their homes in northeast Australia, with authorities warning of tornadoes and more rain over the next few days.

Australia's tropical north experiences heavy rains during the monsoon season at this time of the year, but the recent downpour has surged far above normal levels.

Thousands of residents in the city of Townsville in Queensland were without power and cut off by flooded roads.

More severe weather could whip up tornadoes and destructive winds in the days ahead, Bureau of Meteorology state manager Bruce Gunn told reporters Sunday.

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Best of our wild blogs: 3 Feb 19

Happy World Wetlands Day!
Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs

The Not So Common Common Myna
BES Drongos

Singapore Raptor Report – December 2018
Singapore Bird Group

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Zero Waste Masterplan to focus on electronics, packaging, food waste: Masagos

Melanie Oliveiro Channel NewsAsia 3 Feb 19;

SINGAPORE: Singapore will relook the waste management cycle for three major streams of trash: Food waste, packing waste and e-waste, under its first Zero Waste Masterplan, Minister for Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli said.

The ministry has designated 2019 as Singapore's Year Towards Zero Waste, in a campaign that aims to raise awareness of waste issues and the need to conserve resources.

At 21 per cent, Singapore's household recycling rate is low when compared with other developed countries like Germany and South Korea.

While Singaporeans are practicing better recycling habits, many of them are still doing it wrong, said Mr Masagos in an interview with 938NOW which was broadcast on Friday (Feb 1).

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Malaysia: ‘Protecting Sarawak’s wildlife a niche tourism product’

Cecilia Sman Borneo Post 3 Feb 19;

MIRI: Sarawakians should cooperate with the authorities by not buying, rearing or trapping protected and totally protected wild animals, to prevent them from being extinct.

Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Lee Kim Shin regards continuous and strong cooperation as being vital when it comes to protecting these animals from extinction and Sarawak’s tourism focus.

“Currently among our tourism targets include promoting nature tourism to tap its rich biodiversity, which is a niche tourism product especially to naturalists.

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Indonesia: Population of Komodo dragons in national park stable

Antara 2 Feb 19;

Komodo dragons in the Komodo National Park in West Manggara, East Nusa Tenggara. ANTARA FOTO/Indrianto Eko Suwarso/aww.

Kupang, E Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA News) - The population of Komodo dragons at the Komodo National Park located in West Manggara, East Nusa Tenggara Province, reaches 2,897 and is considered to be stable.

"Based on our record, the population of Komodo dragons remains stable, which is between two thousand and three thousand heads," Jackson, the Park`s Komodo dragon monitoring officer, stated here, Saturday.

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UAE's corals suffer 'catastrophic' damage in record summer heat

The future of eight reefs in the Arabian Gulf is in doubt after high temperatures and low winds leave corals dying
Daniel Bardsley The National 2 Feb 19;

Scientists fear the future of the UAE’s reefs is in doubt after research found rising temperatures killed almost three quarters of Abu Dhabi’s coral.

Record temperatures in the summer of 2017 left more than 90 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s coral cover bleached and struggling to survive, New York University Abu Dhabi found.

Dr John Burt, associate professor of biology, said there was a remarkable amount of damage.

“The results were catastrophic,” Dr Burt told The National. “I had never seen anything like it in my career.”

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Hong Kong customs seize record haul of pangolin scales bound for Vietnam

Reuters 1 Feb 19;

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong customs busted a massive endangered species smuggling operation from Africa, seizing a record quantity of pangolin scales along with more than 1,000 ivory tusks, as authorities step up the fight against illegal wildlife trafficking.

The value of the seized goods - which equates to around 500 elephants and up to 13,000 pangolins - was over HK$62 million, ($7.90 million) officials said on Friday. Originating in Nigeria, the shipment was bound for Vietnam, they added.

In a separate incident, customs officials in the northern Vietnamese port of Hai Phong discovered another 1.4 tonnes of pangolin scales in a shipping container sent from Nigeria, the state-run Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday.

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'No malice or cruelty': Pest control company Anticimex rejects claims of mishandling snake at Tang Plaza

Channel NewsAsia 31 Jan 19;

SINGAPORE: There was no malice or cruelty towards the snake outside Tang Plaza during its capture, said pest control firm Anticimex on Thursday (Jan 31) after the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) said it was investigating claims that the animal was mishandled.

AVA announced on Tuesday that it was investigating the case after a video on social media showed an Anticimex employee stepping on a 3m-long python while attempting to capture the struggling animal.

The authority previously said: "Cruelty to animals is an offence under the Animals and Birds Act. AVA has issued a set of guidelines on the proper handling of snakes to all pest control and wildlife management agencies in Singapore."

In response to this, Anticimex told Channel NewsAsia that the workers involved "used all necessary parts of their bodies to safely relocate a very large snake in a public place".

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Malaysia: MMEA saves 12 after oil tanker sinks off Tanjung Penyusop in Johor waters

Malay Mail Yahoo News 31 Jan 19;

KOTA TINGGI, Jan 31 — The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) today rescued 12 crew members after their vessel sank near Tanjung Penyusop here last night.

All 12 male survivors, including a Malaysian technical passenger, had earlier been stranded at sea after their tanker met with problems at about two nautical miles east of Tanjung Penyusop.

Johor MMEA deputy director (operations) Maritime Captain Sanifah Yusof said the Sea Frontier motor tanker, registered in Saint Kitts and Nevis, was about 75 per cent submerged at about 9.15pm last night.

He said checks revealed that the vessel had hit rocks while attempting to dock, causing hull damage that allowed water into the ship.

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Indonesia: Why burn it? Government studies peatland conservation, management

Yuli Savitri The Jakarta Post 31 Jan 19;

The government has started research into developing peatlands as agricultural lands and conservation areas, following years of plantation companies and farmers using the slash-and-burn method in an attempt to cultivate peatlands.

The South Sumatra Peatland Restoration Team (TRGD) has focused on four areas in the province for developing as peat management and research centers.

TRGD chairman Najib Asmani said that the four areas were mapped on their individual characteristics for researchers to conduct a variety of peatland studies.

The four areas include Sembilang National Park, which UNESCO designated last year as a Biosphere Reserve.

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