Stick to Your Role As Guardian

By S.M. Mohd Idris

IT is disturbing to learn that a breeding project of a wildlife species for their meat has been initiated by the Wildlife and National Parks Department.

Listed for the breeding projects are Malayan porcupines along with several species, including pangolins, mouse deer and barking deer.

It is unimaginable that wildlife species, some of which are endangered, will soon end up on the dinner table.

Eating the meat of endangered animal species goes against the concept of protecting them. In terms of the impact on both ecology and animal welfare, Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) questions the ethics of eating protected and totally protected wildlife.

The Wildlife Department should get its priorities right. Is it more interested in conservation or the production of wildlife meat?

From a conservation perspective, creating a larger commercial market for wildlife species is just inviting poachers to eliminate a species from the wild, because one can easily poach an animal at less expense than one can raise the animal.

Wildlife ranching advocates may argue that raising animals in captivity will lower the incentive to poach. They have yet to point to a species that is saved from extinction in this manner.

The Wildlife Department may consider farm breeding preferable to illegal hunting. Animal farming standards are highly vulnerable to abuse, especially as Malaysia’s animal welfare law is totally inadequate.

Then again, if we can breed our wildlife species for the slaughter, why do we need national parks and forest reserves?

Parks and wildlife habitats are meaningless if they are empty of the species. Protecting a habitat means nothing without its wildlife.

The RM1.5 million allocated for the breeding programme should be put to better use in wildlife conservation and in beefing up law enforcement.

If law enforcers are overworked, under-resourced or have insufficient knowledge about or interest in wildlife conservation, they will turn a blind eye to the sale of endangered species.

In such circumstances, animals may be seen simply as commodities to be exploited whose value increases as they become more endangered.

There is little general acceptance of the idea of species becoming endangered or dying out, especially if the product in question is seen as “traditional” or has been extracted and sold for many years.

The department should stick to its role as the conservator and guardian of the country’s wildlife instead of exploiting the country’s fauna to the fullest.

S.M. MOHD IDRIS

for Sahabat Alam Malaysia

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