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Injured Orang Utan showing signs of recovery

It is heartening to read news reports that the brutally injured 20-year-old Orang Utan which is now being treated at Sabah wildlife rescue unit in Sipilok is showing signs of recovery. This totally protected wildlife species of Orang Utan was found groaning in pain in a plantation with a deep cut on its shoulder and with several puncture wounds on its forehead.

The timely and commendable action by the plantation owner to immediately contact the wildlife rescue unit has somewhat helped save the primate from further sufferings and probably from certain death.

Apparently the Sabah Wildlife Department has launched their own investigation into this attack on the Orang Utan and has also lodged a police report. The police on their part have accepted the report and are now awaiting for the outcome of the Sabah Wildlife Department investigation into the incident.

I have my doubts that the Sabah police nor the Wildlife Department will ever apprehend those who were responsible for these heinous crimes on our exotic wildlife. Their ‘cool’ and somewhat sluggish and outdated investigations methods into wildlife crimes in the past speaks volumes of their credibility and professionalism.

Its been several years now, we have yet to hear anything about the brutal and fatal poisoning of our precious Pygmy elephants in Sabah. Not a single person or organisation/groups has been positively identified to be associated with the heinous killing of our Pygmy elephants which received global attention. All the years of high-tech investigations and promises with regards to the killing of the Pygmy elephants has come to nothing so far.

The Sabah Wildlife Department and the police should view all these wildlife abuses and cruelty cases seriously otherwise the public will perceive them as inefficient and unreliable. As it is there are all kinds of speculations circulating in the public and social media in the Internet with regard to the Pygmy killing episodes.

The Sabah Wildlife Department and the police owe and an explanation as to why the killers of our Pygmy elephants have yet to face the full brunt of the law.

The inability of both these agencies to bring to book or solve the brutal killing of our gentle Pygmy elephants  is indeed mind-boggling and a national shame. The image of both these enforcement agencies has been severely dented due to their failure to solve the killing of the Pygmy elephants with all the evidence. With this kind of reputation can we rely on these people to track down the culprits who deliberately inflicted the injuries to the Orang Utan?

For all we know this poor creature was probably forced to stray out of its diminishing habitat in search of food.

In the name of economic and agricultural activities we have robbed and cleared many hundreds of hectares of our wildlife habitats. The least we can do is to ensure that our wildlife are protected and those who harm or planning to inflict injury to poor creatures are severely punished so that others will think twice to commit the same offence.

Enough of lame excuses

If our enforcement officers are unable to even do this bit, it is simply unacceptable and I wonder why are we still using taxpayers’ money to pay their salaries. Enough of all the lame excuses and get cracking to bring to justice the wildlife crime perpetrators.

In the meanwhile the government should consider increasing the manpower needs of the relevant enforcement agencies and equip the officers with the latest tools to protect and safeguard our wildlife species. The Wildlife Department should seriously consider using drones equipped with the latest gadgets to carry out surveillance in the vast jungles and plantations in the country to protect our wildlife.

The use of drones have several advantages and applications if used judiciously. However, all these sophisticated tools are meaningless if the authorities for some reason or other are too hesitant to charge wildlife criminals despite the mounting evidences of their crime.

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