Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Malaysian Wildlife Trade


1. After reading the article entitled, "Trafficking in Wildlife" in National Geographic January 2010, by Brian Christy, I am compelled to post some of my perceptions and thoughts herein. Earlier I had bought and read "Lizard King" and just ordered "Orchid Fever" at Kinokunia KLCC. Bpth of these books reported the trade in wildlife and orchids.

2. Whether we liked it or not, Malaysia has been reported as an active hub in Asian and World trade in both the wildlife and plants. There were incidents in the past where Malaysians were caught and jailed in USA and England for trafficking plant and animal materials which are listed in under CITES Appendix I. One of the the ironic things is that these involved Malaysians and they were caught outside our country. Are we saying they were more sensitive than the Malaysian authorities in handling these kind of cases. Malaysia has been a signatory of CITES.

3. It is reported that import and export of these items are very lucrative economically as there are many buyers in the world and the demands for the exotics are on the increase. Some under the pretext of R & D for medical reasons, e.g. the exports of Macaca fascicularis three years ago, involving some high ranking government servants. Whenever there are demands the suppliers and the middlemen became more active.

4. The staffs of WWF Malaysia reporetd that there is no more evidence of Sumateran rhinoceros anymore in Belum Forest Reserve, Perak; the number of tigers is dwindling as the poachers from neighbouring countries are becoming more daring. However, they have the locals as their accomplish. The populations of civet cats, reticulated pythons, cobras, monitor lizards, crocodiles, mynahs, ant-eaters, slow lories, flying squirrels, etc have decreased alarmingly due to this phenomenon. Like-wise the orchid and ferns trades are also becoming active, with the Singaporean tourists cum collectors were observed buying them from road-side Orang Asli sellers in a very innocent manner.

5. Read more in the national geographic for more details.

5 comments:

N.A. Rahman said...

Salam.

Pada pendapat saya perlu ada pihak yang menanam dan memperbanyakkan tumbuhan seperti orkid dan paku-pakis liar (dikomersialkan) serta dapat dijual kepada peminat tumbuhan tersebut. Walau bagaimanapun, benarkah orkid liar yang dikutip daripada hutan agak sukar untuk berbunga apabila ditanam di habitat yang berlainan daripada asalnya seperti di taman atau halaman rumah?

Kita bukan sahaja memerlukan penguatkuasaan undang-undang untuk menghalang penjualan haiwan atau tumbuhan yang dilindungi, tetapi perlu ada alternatif yang dapat memberi manfaat dan kebaikan kepada semua.

Harap Prof. dapat singgah ke blog saya di
http://diskusibotani.blogspot.com/

N.A. Rahman said...

Salam Prof.

Pada akhir Februari 2010 lepas, Pn. Norsiah yang merupakan pelajar PhD Dr. Wan Juliana telah pergi ke Taman Negeri Endau Rompin, Pahang untuk menjalankan persampelan di plot ekologinya di sana. Beliau memberitahu saya yang beliau dan pasukannya telah ternampak sekumpulan badak sumbu sebanyak dua kali di kawasan berbukit di sana. Terdapat juga banyak bekas tapak kaki haiwan tersebut. Kemungkinan besar kumpulan badak sumbu tersebut lari ke kawasan bukit (yang berhampiran plot ekologi) kerana kehadiran harimau (Pn. Norsiah terdengar bunyi ngauman harimau sebelum ternampak badak sumbu). Ini menunjukkan bahawa masih wujud populasi haiwan-haiwan tersebut di Taman Negeri Endau Rompin, Pahang.

pakteh said...

Itu adalah salah satu kaedah untuk menangani masalah yang saya cuba bincangkan. perambat tumbuhan eksotik sebanyak mungkin untuk dijual di asaran akan mengurangkan tekanan untuk mengutip dari habitat liar. Tetapi manusia memang akan buat perkara yang lebih mencabar!

pakteh said...

It is great that if evidences showed the badak sumbu is still found in Endau-Rompin. Surveys in belum proved futile

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