Contact relevant authority if you come across endangered species — WWF-Malaysia

KUCHING: WWF-Malaysia wants members of the public to cooperate with the wildlife protection authority by informing the latter immediately if they discover any endangered species.

Its project manager for Sarawak, Cynthia Chin said the close cooperation between the public and the relevant authority will enable the authorities to take action to protect and preserve these species.

Chin said this to The Borneo Post’s sister paper Utusan Borneo when asked to comment on the news of a group of private land surveyors who found and allegedly killed a giant python – measuring nine metre in length and weighing around one tonne – in the jungle near Tanjung Lutong, Lingga in Sri Aman on Monday.

“In fact, I am not sure what had happened as I only saw the incident on a video which had gone viral in social media. But what we would like to share here is that pythons are a protected species,” she said during a WWFMalaysia lunch with the media here yesterday.

If the land surveyors intended for the reptile to live, they should have informed the authority – in this case Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC), she added.

Chin explained that endangered and protected species play important role in sustaining the ecosystem, and that the public must have a sense of pride when providing information to the authorities to facilitate the protection of these creatures.

A friend of the surveyors told Utusan Borneo when contacted on Tuesday that the group was forced to kill the python as they feared for their lives.

He said the reptile was found along the path leading to the surveyors’ place of work in the jungle.