KUALA LUMPUR: Authorities are facing an uphill battle in combating wildlife poaching.
The Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan), a governmental organisation responsible for the conservation and preservation of wildlife and national parks in Peninsular Malaysia, said smugglers frequently changed their modus operandi to easily escape the authorities’ watchful eyes.
“They also use sophisticated concealment methods that make it challenging to detect them.
“We need to prepare and carry out thorough intelligence to nab the smugglers.
“Enforcement officers also face hurdles in gathering quality and credible information to better prepare for operations,” Perhilitan enforcement director Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim told the New Straits Times.
After clamping down on the illegal wildlife traders and smugglers, he said, there was the likelihood of them walking free from the clutches of the law, or merely given a slap on the wrist.
“In some cases, offenders do get away easily from the law due to technical issues during investigation or prosecution.
“However, the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 treats most wildlife crime cases as serious offences with severe punishments.
“Environmental Courts have also been established nationwide to monitor environmental-related cases closely and to ensure they are not taken lightly.
“The department will take all steps necessary to bring those criminals to justice.”
Kadir said Perhilitan had taken measures and strategies to enhance the enforcement activities, such as improving legislation and regulations, enhancement of law and enforcement activities, cooperation among enforcement agencies and non-governmental organisations, building capacity and training staff in enforcement related activities, promoting public awareness and education, as well as establishing a wildlife crime database.
He said several steps had also been taken to prevent wildlife crime in the region, to mitigate poaching activities, expose the extent of poaching and trade, gather intelligence for future analytical reports, identify enforcement priorities, as well as create and coordinate long-term programmes and strategies at the national level with other stakeholders.
Sabah Wildlife director William Baya, in highlighting another compounding problem, said the Chemistry Department would sometimes fail to identify meat seized as those of protected species.
“Hence, we need to use other sources of species identification database, other than the Chemistry Department’s, for example,” he said.