Penduduk Borneo Perlu Lindungi Beruang Madu

 

SANDAKAN 31 Julai - Melindungi habitat bagi hidupan liar yang tergolong sebagai antara haiwan paling ikonik di dunia serta membantu perjalanan pusat perlindungan haiwan terancam, bukan menjadi tanggungjawab kerajaan, pertubuhan bukan kerajaan dan penyelidik semata-mata, tetapi juga orang ramai.

Pengasas dan Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Pusat Pemuliharaan Beruang Madu Borneo (BSBCC), Wong Siew Te berkata, oleh kerana manusia dan hidupan liar menjadi sebahagian daripada ekosistem, maka penduduk setempat juga perlu bersedia menghulurkan bantuan untuk menyelamatkan spesies terancam.

Merujuk kepada acara 'Big Dreams, Little Bears' yang diadakan di sini baru-baru ini, Wong berkata melalui kerjasama dengan sukarelawan tempatan, BSBCC berjaya mengumpul sumbangan RM443,000, hampir seperempat daripada anggaran RM2 juta yang diperlukannya pada tahun ini untuk menyiapkan pembinaan kandang kedua untuk Beruang Madu, penyediaan kawasan hutan tambahan dan sebagai kos operasi harian pusat berkenaan.

"Saya harap penduduk Sandakan menganggap pusat ini sebagai milik mereka juga kerana hasil penglibatan mereka secara langsung atau tidak langsung, membolehkan pusat ini wujud seperti yang ada sekarang dan akan terus maju pada masa akan datang.

"Apabila dibuka kepada orang ramai menjelang awal tahun depan, pusat ini akan menjadi satu lagi daya tarikan eko dan alam semula jadi bagi membolehkan Sandakan memainkan peranannya di peringkat sejagat dalam mempromosi usaha pemuliharaan. Ia juga akan meningkatkan kesedaran semua pihak tentang nasib hidupan liar serta merancakkan pertumbuhan ekonomi tempatan melalui usaha niaga berkaitan pelancongan dan limpahan manfaaat daripadanya.

"Kami harap dapat terus menggalakkan masyarakat tempatan, terutama peniaga, untul menyumbang ke arah pemuliharaan Beruang Madu. Mereka boleh menjadi tenaga penggerak dalam membentuk pendapat orang ramai berhubung spesies itu dan usaha pemuliharaanya," kata Siew Te dalam kenyataan di sini hari ini.

Beliau berkata, penduduk tempatan sepatutnya berbangga kerana pusat itu terletak di kawasan mereka dan menambah bahawa acara mengumpul derma itu memberi kesedaran kepada banyak pihak apabila ia diberi liputan meluas oleh media, termasuk dalam program bual bicara melalui NTV7 dan temu bual melalui radio.

Siew Te mengucapkan terima kasih kepada sukarelawan dan anggota jawatankuasa acara kutipan derma itu kerana sanggup berkorban masa dan tenaga kerana sayangkan Beruang Madu.

"Kami dapati penduduk Sandakan dan kawasan lain di Sabah menyokong usaha ini apabila mereka sanggup membeli tiket bagi acara berkenaan. Ada yang berebut-rebut menyaingi satu sama lain untuk membeli tiga foto Beruang Madu yang dilelong," katanya.

BSBCC melaksanakan usaha pemuliharaan haian berkenaan melalui pendekatan holistik yang melibatkan usaha kebajikan, pemulihan, penyelidikan dan pendidikan hingga menjadikannya satu-satunya pusat pemuliharaan Beruang Madu sepertinya di dunia.

Pusat itu ditubuhkan pada 2008 hasil kerjasama antara Jabatan Hidupan Liar Sabah, Jabatan Perhutanan Sabah dan pertubuhan bukan kerajaan Land Empowerment Animals People (LEAP). Kini, pusat itu menempatkan 28 Beruang Madu yang diselamatkan daripada hutan dan kedai jualan haiwan.

Terletak bersebelahan Pusat Pemulihan Orang Utan Sepilok, pusat berkenaan memberi penjagaan kepada Beruang Madu yang kehilangan ibu bapa dan diselamatkan daripada kurungan, sebelum dilepaskan kembali ke hutan, manakala yang tidak mampu menjalani kehidupan secara liar pula, disediakan persekitaran lebih baik untuk mereka habiskan sisa usia.

Kehilangan habitat, diburu untuk memenuhi permintaan dalam perniagaan perubatan tradisional dan untuk dijadikan haiwan peliharaan merupakan antara punca utama jumlah beruang madu merosot sekurang-kurangnya 30 peratus sejak tiga dekad lepas.

Pengerusi acara kutipan derma itu Anton Ngui berkata Beruang Madu adalah antara warisan semula jadi Sabah yang terkenal di seluruh dunia.

"Kita patut berbangga dengan Beruang Madu kita, seperti rakyat China berbangga dengan panda mereka dan rakyat Australia dengan Beruang Koala mereka. - BERNAMA

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Yayasan Sabah pledges cooperation in probe of dead elephants

Pygmy elephants' death to be investigated

 

KOTA KINABALU: Yayasan Sabah Group will cooperate with the relevant departments in investigating the cause of death of the elephants at its concession area, said Yayasan Sabah director Tan Sri Datu Khalil Datu Jamalul.

 

He said the Group would work closely with the relevant agencies to find the root cause of the dead elephants and to come up with corrective actions to avoid similar incidents in future.

“In fact, we are part of the Task Force comprising various government departments and agencies set up to investigate the incidents,” he said in a statement, here today.

Yesterday, State Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Masidi Manjun was quoted as confirming that so far, 14 Borneo pygmy elephants had been found dead at the Rara Forest Reserve, about 139km from Tawau.

Masidi had said based on an initial examination of the elephant carcasses, the cause of death was likely to be poisoning.

Khalil also clarified that Syarikat Empayar Kejora Sdn Bhd was not a subsidiary logging company of the Group as purportedly reported in the dailies but a contractor contracted by the Group to undertake responsible logging activities within the area.

All logging contractors under the purview of the Group are stringently bound to the relevant Acts and Enactments including the Forest Enactment (1968), Wildlife Conservation Enactment (1997), Sabah Biodiversity Enactment (2000) and the Environmental Protection Enactment (2002), he said.

 “We are also working closely with many government agencies and national as well as international bodies and NGOs such as the Royal Society of United Kingdom; WWF Malaysia, Face the Future, the Netherlands; IKEA, Sweden; Wetlands International, Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Forest Research Centre Sepilok, Academy Sciences Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, PETRONAS, Kyoto University and many others for our forest management, environment, conservation and rehabilitation, environmental education and community outreach programmes,” he added.

Khalil said the group would continue to play a critical role in ensuring that the environment remains available for future generations.  

On this note, he said the Group would not rest on its laurels on issues concerning environmental sustainability.

"Therefore, the Group will work together with other agencies to prevent unwanted incidence like these from happening again especially in our own concession area,” he said. 

Source: New Straits Times

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Pygmy’s killer must be brought to justice

Pygmy elephants

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) has expressed full support to the statement by Sabah’s Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun that if the Bornean elephants were maliciously poisoned then the culprits must be brought to justice and be made to pay for their crime against these animals.

“The shocking discovery of the mysterious deaths of 13 Borneo pygmy elephants in Gunung Rara Forest Reserve is indeed the saddest day for Sabah’s conservation efforts,” MCPF Vice Chairman, Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said in a statement yesterday.

“As an animal lover I am also deeply saddened by the death of these majestic and endangered Bornean elephants,” he said. “The picture of an orphaned elephant calf trying to wake up its dead mother was indeed a heart wrenching sight and would move animal lovers to tears,” he added.

Lee welcomed the setting up of a taskforce by the Sabah Wildlife Department involving the WWF and the police to investigate and get to the bottom of this tragic incident.

He said the authorities concerned must send a strong message to those responsible for the death of the endangered species that their action must not be tolerated and they must be brought to justice.

“Granted that these elephants might roam into plantations and villages where they might cause losses to the owners, such a problem, if it does exist, can be dealt with by the Wildlife Department.

“But if there are humans who go to such extent to kill the 13 endangered pigmy elephants by resorting to poisoning, it is totally unacceptable and justice must be done,” he said.

“According to media reports it would appear that the likely cause of death pointed to poisoning as according to the post mortem the gastro intestinal tracts had severe hemorrhages and ulceration with some bleeding from the mouth and anus,” Lee said.

“If any form of poison is used to kill the elephants leading to their slow and painful deaths, then it is an act of sheer cruelty to the animals which must be taken seriously and those responsible must be brought to book,” he said.

Source: New Sabah Times

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Masidi: Death of 10 elephants saddest day for conservation efforts in Sabah

Baby pygmy elephant mourns over dead mother

KOTA KINABALU: The discovery of the deaths of 10 Borneo pygmy elephants in Gunung Rara Forest Reserve was the saddest day for Sabah’s conservation efforts.

“This is a very sad day for conservation and Sabah. The death of these majestic and severely endangered Bornean elephants is a great loss to the state,” Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun  said.

“Though it might be too early to pinpoint a conclusive cause of death, poisoning seems to be the likely cause,” he said.

Masidi said he had directed Sabah Wildlife Department to set up a joint task force with relevant stakeholders such as the Forestry Department, Yayasan Sabah, WWF and police to further investigate these deaths and to get to the bottom of it.

“If indeed these poor elephants were maliciously poisoned I will make sure that the culprits are brought to justice and pay for their crime ” Masidi added.

Elephants are known to roam into plantations and villages where they cause severe losses to the owners.

Sabah Wildlife Department is usually called in to help in steering the elephants away from such places and in some cases they are moved to other forest reserves.

However, some people affected have resorted to poisoning the elephants to stop their menace and among the methods used are pesticides including rat poisons over the years.

State Wildlife director Datuk Dr Laurentius Ambu  said that they were scouring the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve area as well as places adjacent to it to see if any pesticides were used to kill the elephants.

Source: kepkas.sabah.gov.my  

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3 more rare Borneo elephants mysteriously found dead

Wildlife officials investigate the death of an elephant at the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve in Sabah, Malaysia. Thirteen endangered Borneo pygmy elephants have been found dead in the Malaysian forest under mysterious circumstances. (Sabah Wildlife Department/Associated Press)

 

13 deaths this month, suspiscions of poisoning

 

Malaysian authorities discovered the decomposing remains of another three endangered Borneo pygmy elephants today, deepening a mystery surrounding at least 13 such deaths this month.

The wildlife department in Malaysia's Sabah state is bracing for the possibility of finding more dead elephants in the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve, where an unknown number of the animals roam, said Masidi Manjun, Sabah's environment minister.

Police are investigating suspicions that the elephants were poisoned. Officials have declined to say whether there are any suspects.

The first 10 known deaths captured wide attention when they were made public this week. Authorities released several photographs of the elephant carcasses and a particularly poignant one of a three-month-old surviving calf that appeared to be trying to wake its dead mother.

"There is definitely a sense of urgency," Masidi said by telephone from Sabah on Wednesday. "We cannot discount the possibility of more bad news."

The orphaned male elephant, nicknamed "Joe" by his rescuers, was transported to a Sabah wildlife park. Officials say he is under observation and appears healthy.

Fewer than 1,500 Borneo pygmy elephants

 

The WWF conservation group estimates that fewer than 1,500 Borneo pygmy elephants exist. Most live in Sabah, one of two Malaysian states on Borneo island, and grow to about 2.5 metres tall, about 30 to 60 centimetres shorter than mainland Asian elephants.

Known for their babyish faces, large ears and long tails, Borneo pygmy elephants were found to be a distinct subspecies only in 2003, after DNA testing.

Officials are working to have a laboratory analysis of samples from the dead elephants ready "as soon as possible," Masidi said.

Department veterinarians have said the elephants, believed to belong to a single herd, suffered severe hemorrhages and ulcers in their gastrointestinal tracts.

Source: CBC News

 

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10 rare pygmy elephants found dead in Sabah

A baby elephant stays close to a dead pygmy elephant in the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve, some 130 kilometers from Tawau in Malaysia's Sabah state. AFP

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 29, 2013): Ten endangered pygmy elephants were found dead this month in Malaysian Borneo and are thought to have been poisoned, conservation officials said Tuesday.

Wildlife authorities in Sabah, a state on the eastern tip of the island, have formed a taskforce together with the police and WWF to investigate the deaths.

Laurentius Ambu, Sabah wildlife department director, said it received a report last Wednesday of four dead pygmy elephants in the Gunung Rara forest reserve.

But officials were "shocked" to find another four of the animals, a rare sub-species of the Asian elephant, dead or dying after inspecting the area for two days, he said.

"Early this year, two highly decomposed elephant carcasses were found in the general vicinity of where these eight animals were found. We believe that all the deaths of these elephants are related," he said in a statement.

Sen Nathan, the department's senior veterinarian, said in the statement "we highly suspect" the animals died due to poisoning after finding severe ulceration and bleeding in their digestive tracts.

"It was actually a very sad sight to see all those dead elephants, especially one of the dead females who had a very young calf of about three months old. The calf was trying to wake the dead mother up," he said.

Masidi Manjun, the state's environment minister, vowed to take tough action.

"If indeed these poor elephants were maliciously poisoned I would personally make sure that the culprits would be brought to justice and pay for their crime," he said in the statement.

There are fewer than 2,000 Borneo pygmy elephants, which are smaller and have more rounded features compared to normal Asian elephants, left in the wild, according to authorities. 

Activists warn that pygmy elephants are fast losing their natural habitat to deforestation and human encroachment on Borneo, a vast island shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. – AFP

Source: The Sun Daily

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