SAHABAT ALAM MALAYSIA (SAM) is astonished to read news reports of an inked agreement between Japan's Ambassador to Malaysia, the Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) minister, and the director-general of the Wildlife Department (Perhilitan), to send a pair of Malayan tapirs to Japan as part of a conservation research programme.
SAM is keen to know the rationale behind this move as, unlike Sumatran rhinos, tapirs are known to have been bred successfully at the Sungai Dusun Wildlife Conservation Centre. How, and in what way, will tapirs benefit from this so-called conservation research programme?
Since they are the subject of a research programme, is the Nagasaki Bio-Park assigned to establish the main threats faced, and what actions need to be taken to ensure their survival? It would be of great interest to know the conservation action plans outlined by the Japanese Bio-Park and identify the key agencies carrying out those actions.
Our tapirs are usually victims of vehicular accidents, when they attempt to cross roads that bisect their forested homes. They are also victims of snares set up for other animals like wild boars, tigers and deer.
The No. 1 threat to their existence is the loss of habitat, as forests are exploited and fragmented into isolated parcels through logging, expanding farms, plantations and highways.
If indeed a conservation research programme is sorely needed, then it should be conducted in the tapirs’ home country rather than in a foreign land.
Its distribution has never been studied in depth, and it is often assumed that they are not threatened because they do not offer valuable horns, skin or teeth. But in reality, the situation may be much worse, with continued deforestation and human disturbance. More intensive fieldwork is urgently needed here in its home country.
This again raises doubt as to whether Perhilitan has failed in its capacity as guardians of the nation’s wildlife, and is incapable of even protecting our own native species, preferring to ink away our wildlife to foreign parks and zoos.
SAM is not at all convinced about the Nagasaki Bio-Park. It is a zoo and botanical garden housing around 2,000 animals of various species.
From the pictures on its website, one can easily conclude that it is more into commercialisation of wildlife, where feeding of animals is encouraged with food vending machines placed near exhibits.
In addition, the handling and petting of animals are encouraged, from penguins to all monkeys, kangaroos and others. This touching and petting is another form of public attraction to keep visitors amused.
Constant handling and petting of animals is detrimental to their welfare, especially for non- or minimally-social animals that do not normally experience much physical contact or handling in their wild state and which may perceive physical contact as predation.
Another crowd-puller featured is the The Battle Of Evermore, showing sparring kangaroos, which may be a natural activity for male kangaroos.
When this inter-individual aggression takes place in the wild, there is ample space for retreat to a safe distance away from the dominant or aggressive individual. But, in captivity, with space limitation, this can result in chronic stress, injuries or even death.
With regard to animal welfare standards in Japan, SAM would like to recall conditions of bears in bear parks, condemned as medieval by wildlife animal groups. Japanese zoos may be clean, but they are not animal-friendly. There is inadequate space, little enrichment and no kindness.
It would interest us to know what conditions the tapirs will be put into. A pertinent question that begs to be answered is what Malaysian officers can learn about zoos and park management, considering the distressing state of animal welfare in Japan and inadequate animal protection legislation.
The NRE and Perhilitan, entrusted with the care of our resources and wildlife, should not be signing away our endangered species, but instead address forest defragmentation through reforestation, land use planning and identification of wildlife crossings.
These are key strategies in addressing the threats faced by tapirs and other wildlife as well.
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S. M. Mohd Idris,
President, Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM)