KOTA KINABALU – An international research team claimed that the African swine fever (ASF) has harmed Sabah’s indigenous communities, who rely on bearded pigs for food and cultural traditions.
ASF is a lethal virus that has caused the mass death of domestic and wild pigs in Sabah over the last nine months. The virus has hurt pig farms and caused a collapse in wild bearded pig populations around the state.
The team is made up of researchers from Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Sabah Parks, Danau Girang Field Centre, Sabah Wildlife Department, Cardiff University, the University of Queensland, and UC Berkeley.
Upon interviewing Kadazandusun-Murut (KDM) hunters in the state, they found that the KDM communities still hunt bearded pigs for some of the same reasons that they have in the past – food, recreation, pest control, and gifts for cultural celebrations such as weddings and family gatherings.
For some of the hunters interviewed, bearded pig meat is important for food security.
When asked why he hunts, one respondent said simply: “It’s a matter of survival.”
Another hunter said his father told him: “This is our life. We live in the forest; this is our food.”
A third hunter concluded, “We cannot leave the pig.”
Bearded pig meat is also important for the KDM communities’ cultural traditions, as it is shared at festivals, birthday parties, and other celebratory events.
In the study, over half of the respondents (54%) said that gift-giving of the meat was a motivation to hunt.
One hunter even said: “The bearded pig is our tradition. For celebrations, you only use the bearded pig.”
However, more hunters now pursue pigs in oil palm plantations, not just in forests. With oil palm being so common in Sabah, more hunters are heading to industrial and smallholding oil palm plantations to find them.
ASF’s deadly sweep through Sabah has left bearded pig populations in some places close to extinction, but there is still hope for recovery for the animals.
Professor Benoit Goossens, a co-author on the study and the director of Danau Girang Field Centre, expressed his optimism.
“We have evidence collected from camera traps in several protected areas that some bearded pig individuals have survived, although the numbers are extremely sporadic.
“The species is very resilient, and its reproductive rate is high, with a female able to produce between three and 10 piglets per litter. We can therefore expect that if some individuals survive the outbreak, the population could bounce back in a few years.”
If the pigs can make a comeback, it will be great news for bearded pig conservation and KDM cultural traditions.
Dr Fiffy Hanisdah Saikim, a co-author on the study and senior lecturer and researcher at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, concluded that the bearded pigs reflect the people’s relationship with the rainforest as well as their desire for a “sane coexistence” with the flora and fauna there.
She said that the animal is far more than mere game for the people of Borneo.
“The bearded pig is a unique creature that bears witness to both ecological and cultural keystone species.”
The authors dedicated their work to the late Mr Peter Malim, an advocate for wildlife conservation in Sabah for many years. –The Vibes, August 29, 2021
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