Perhilitan lauded for busting syndicate

KUALA LUMPUR: Wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic has given its thumbs up to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) for crippling the wildlife poaching syndicate in Kelantan.

Traffic South-East Asia senior programme manager Kanitha Krishnasamy said the case highlighted how the threat of poaching and illegal wildlife trade should be viewed with a great degree of seriousness by all government agencies concerned with national security.

“This is a significant victory for wildlife and we congratulate Perhilitan and the Malaysian Armed Forces for their efforts under the 1Malaysia Biodiversity Enforcement Operation Network programme.

“We hope the Government continues to see the value of such collaboration and continues to fund it,” Kanitha said.

He also urged the authorities to seriously look into the source of the explosives and weapons which the offenders had.

“It is a sobering reminder of the lengths to which poachers are willing to go to secure their kill,” he said.

Asia’s elephants are under increasing threat largely due to habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation, while poaching of elephants for their ivory was reported recently in Sabah, where two pygmy Asian elephants were found killed with their tusks removed late last year.

Asian elephants are fewer in number than their African cousins.

Only males have tusks and therefore any poaching of animals for their ivory leads to skewed sex ratios, severely impacting wild populations.

According to Perhilitan’s database, at least 15 elephants had been poached in the peninsula since 2013.

Seven men, including a plantation general manager, have been nabbed by Perhilitan in a series of raids since Friday.