Orangutan claim rubbished
Groups slam allegation that 300 killed in Sabah
KOTA KINABALU: An allegation by a Britishbased NGO that some 300 orangutan were slaughtered in the jungles of Sabah over the past eight years is not true, said state authorities and wildlife groups here.
The slaughter of such magnitude would have been noticed and action taken, said state wildlife department director Dr Laurentius Ambu, whose views were supported by French-based Hutan and local NGO Borneo Rhino Alliance.
The British-based Nature Alert had alleged that 300 primates were killed in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary (LKWS) over the past eight years due to increased agricultural activities there.
Responding to the claims, Dr Laurentius said: “The fact that LKWS has been totally protected since 2002 and that the total sanctuary area of 25,000ha has remained unchanged are direct testimonies to the falsehood of this baseless allegation.”
He said the department was willing to work with wildlife groups, such as Traffic, on any evidence of poaching or trade of orang utan in Sabah.
“We will definitely take action and prosecute the culprits,” he said, while dismissing accusations that his department received massive sums of money from plantations to turn a blind eye to the purported orang utan slaughter.
The department’s field veterinarian Dr Sen Nathan said more than 400 orang utan had been rescued and translocated since 1991.
“Such exercises have been rare in recent years,” he said.
Dr Marc Ancrenaz, of the Hutan-Kinabatangan orang utan conservation programme, described the British NGO’s claim as “preposterous”.