Wildlife species at risk of extinction due to illegal poaching

SHAH ALAM - Illegal poaching of animals with a high price tag is among the factors leading to wildlife extinction in the country, besides the exploration of forests while totally disregarding the habitat and conservation of wildlife.

Zoo Negara deputy president Rosly @ Rahmat Ahmat Lana said this was also caused by the habitat being threatened and forests becoming smaller through fragmentation process.

“All these factors combined can cause serious crisis especially when some species start to move away from their natural habitat and disrupting the lives of humans.

“The wildlife extinction issue is becoming critical with the increase in the number of residents who need evolution and the lack of wildlife reproduction contributes to the declining numbers of species,” he said when contacted by Sinar Harian on Wednesday.

Rosly said the government needs to work together with experts to resolve the issue on wildlife extinction and take the appropriate measures to combat the problem.

Commenting further, he suggested an expansion of the gazetted areas for the wildlife and to conduct further research on the 'in-situ and ex-situ' programme which will include the aspect of reproduction in animals.

“The special task bodies established to overcome these issues for long-term periods is the right move and this shows the seriousness of the government to tackle the wildlife issue," he said.

According to Rosly, Zoo Negara's role is to continuously conduct educational and awareness programmes on the conservation of wildlife for the public.

“Apart from that, there are also the reproductive processes to increase the population of the species.

“There are 11 wildlife species that are under the care of Zoo Negara namely the Bornean Orangutans, Asian Elephants, Malayan Tapirs, Malayan Sun Bear, Malayan Gaur, Milky Stork, Lesser Mousedeer, White Handed Gibbon, False Gharial Crocodiles, River Terrapin and the Malayan Tiger.

“These are the animals that had reproduced and increased in numbers,” he said.