AN additional 13 charges against four individuals, caught with over 1,000 animal parts, including 397 bear claws near Taman Negara in Pahang last year, highlight the need for enhanced enforcement at the country’s biodiversity hotspots, says a wildlife trade monitoring group.
In a statement, Traffic Southeast Asia director Kanitha Krishnasamy said that the poachers were causing significant harm in a targeted area.
“The parts they possessed equalled dozens of leopards, bears, and tigers. We hope for strong prosecution outcomes to convey that such crimes are not tolerated,” she said in a statement today.
Kanitha said that through the collective work of various agencies under Ops Bersepadu Khazanah since 2019 and the Wildlife and National Parks Department’s (Perhilitan) longstanding anti-poaching efforts, authorities have identified hundreds of poaching hotspots throughout the peninsula and continue to update this information.
“Efforts are already focused on those identified areas, supported by information from many conservation NGOs working on the ground.
“This focused work is part of the reason why they were able to track down the group found with the 1,005 parts. This is partly why we urge the government to continue investing in and supporting enforcement and protection efforts,” she said in the statement.
The scale of the seizure in this case has been described by Traffic as “particularly shocking”.
Besides the bear claws, wildlife parts seized from a house in Panching, Pahang in November also included those from iconic and endangered species such as the leopard (panthera pardus), pangolin (manis javanica), tiger (panthera tigris), clouded leopard (neofelis nebulosa), serow (capricornis sumatraensis), Asian golden cat (catopuma temminckii), and elephant (elephas maximus).
Traffic said 10 out of the two dozen wildlife species involved are classified as totally protected, with seven falling under a specific section of the act (Schedule 10), carrying the highest penalties and compulsory imprisonment for wildlife offences.
Four people – three Vietnamese nationals and one Malaysian – were apprehended and brought to court for charges under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010.
Earlier, Perhilitan director-general Datuk Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim said the accused were caught thanks to a special integrated operation against illegal hunting involving the Perhilitan Special Tactical Team (Sparta) and Royal Malaysian Police 69 Commando members.
The Vietnamese nationals, aged in their 40s and 50s, entered the country legally.
Initially, the group faced two counts of possession of snares and pangolin parts, but last month, upon completion of investigations and forensic testing, 13 more charges were brought against them.
The 4,343 sq km Taman Negara and its surrounding areas are among the last remaining safe havens of the critically endangered Malayan tiger and other species.
It has been the focus of increased patrols and surveillance for poaching and illegal trade, especially through a joint enforcement task force, Ops Bersepadu Khazanah, since 2019. – July 31, 2024.
