KOTA KINABALU: Sabah
wildlife experts are for the first time acknowledging the grim fate of the
state’s Sumatran rhinos.
They are now certain
that the three rhinos in captivity are the only ones left and they are
incapable of breeding due to health problems.
State Tourism, Culture
and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said wildlife researchers
had reported it was unlikely that there were any rhino left in the wild in the
absence of any sightings of the creature.
(Wildlife experts had
previously thought that there were about 10 rhinos in Sabah’s forests.)
“We are facing the
prospect of our Sumatran rhinos going extinct in our lifetime,” said Masidi
when opening a seminar on the environment organised by the Judicial Department.
The saddest part was
that these creatures had been hunted to virtual extinction for their horns
which have a nutritional value similar to nails, he added.
He said the state was
fast running out of options to get the three remaining rhinos – females named
Puntong and Iman and the male Tam – to produce offspring.
Dying out: Puntung and Tam in a paddock at the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary in Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Sabah.
Masidi said the three
rhinos had problems with their reproductive systems and wildlife experts were
not able to come up with any solutions as yet.
Voicing a similar
concern for Bornean elephants, Masidi noted that he had been alerted by the
Wildlife Department of the discovery of orphaned elephant calves two days in a
row.
“The likelihood is
that they (the mothers) have been illegally hunted,” he said.
Masidi added that with
the increasing number of wildlife-related offences, the department was
currently being restructured to separate its enforcement and prosecution
unit.
“We need more
qualified prosecutors to ensure we are successful in taking poachers and other
offenders to court,” he said, adding that the enforcement unit was also being
beefed up.
Chief judge for Sabah
and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjun said a special court had started operating
in Sabah to hear environment-related cases and to dispose of them within four
weeks.
He said the
Environment Court would hear cases at the magistrate, Sessions and High Court
levels.
He added that he had
also issued a reminder to judges that the penalties they mete for environmental
related offences must send a strong message from the courts.
Malanjun said it was
for this reason he recently enhanced the penalty of a pangolin smuggler from a
RM10,000 fine to RM25,000 and ordered the offender to be jailed for the maximum
three years as well.
“The courts can impose
a RM10,000 fine for someone convicted of wildlife smuggling but will this be a
deterrent if the price of a pangolin in China is RM50,000?” he asked.
Source : The Star
Online
Date : Saturday April 18, 2015
By : Ruben Sario
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