KOTA KINABALU: Sabah's endangered wild cattle, the Bornean banting, has become a focus in the state's wildlife conservation efforts.
Conservationists and scientists from across the world are working together to study the relatively unknown cattle species found in the wilds of Sabah.
“The Bornean Banting Programme intends to advance our understanding of and conservation efforts for one of the most charismatic and still unknown mammal species,” said state Wildlife Department director Dr Laurentius Ambu.
Amoosing: Penny Gardner, a PhD student at Danau Girang Field Centre and Cardiff University sampling banting dung along an old logging road at the Malua Forest Reserve.
Dr Ambu, a member of the Asian wild cattle group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, said his department was working with various partners to study the ecology of the endangered wild cattle.
“It is a long-term programme which aims to provide an insight into the ecology of this endangered wild cattle species,” he said, adding that the number of the cattle in Sabah was much lower than the number of elephants.
He, however, declined to give any estimates of the current population of the rare cattle.
“The results of this programme will assist our department to develop a state action plan for all banting across Sabah,” Dr Ambu told The Star.
Dr Benoit Goossens, director of the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), the department's field study centre located within the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, said there were fears that the Bornean banting might go extinct if nothing was done to conserve the species.
He said the banting population had reduced drastically following years of poaching and recent forest conversion to oil palm plantations across Borneo island.
On the moo-ve: Bantings grazing away at the Malua Forest Reserve in Kota Kinabalu recently. There are fears that the banting might be the first large mammal to go extinct.
“This species could be the first large mammal to go extinct in the near future if nothing is done to reverse the situation,” Dr Goossens said.
The programme is jointly being carried out by the department, DGFC and non-governmental organisation HUTAN.
Funds for the prgramme come from Houston Zoo, Malaysian Palm Oil Council, Mohamed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund and Woodland Park Zoo.
They are collaborating with several other groups, including the Sabah Forestry Department, New Forests Asia Sdn Bhd, the Malua Biobank Project, Cardiff University and the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research.
Source : The Star Online
Date: Monday June 13, 2011
By: Muguntan Vanar
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