LETTER | “… Spring now comes unheralded by the return of the birds, and the early mornings are strangely silent where once they were filled with the beauty of birdsong.”

If you have read Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring”, the environmental disaster of how DDT, commonly used as a pesticide for mosquito control, devastated insect and bird populations in the US in the 1940s and 1950s, the above should sound familiar.

The absence of the vibrant singers of nature brought forth countless silent springs. Many noticed the looming, sinister omen but the truth eluded them until the publication of “Silent Spring” in 1962.

Eerily enough, we are now observing a similar omen in Malaysia. Our forests are getting quieter, devoid of the loud, dulcet music of the white-rumped shama.

Of all the local songbirds, white-rumped shamas (known as murai batu in Bahasa Malaysia) produce one of the most delightful songs. They sing to attract mates and warn rivals off their territory. As a result, songs and recordings of another white-rumped shama can easily provoke or lure them out in the open.

Using a singing male in a cage trap, trappers exploit the birds’ curiosity and aggressiveness to catch them. Very ironically, the birds’ strong desire to propagate their species becomes their Achilles’ heel.

As an avid birder, I have been birding in the forests of Johor and Pahang over the past five years. Based on my observations, the white-rumped shama has been elusive in jungles which can be easily accessed, except in deep jungles.

More worryingly, however, they have been disappearing from places where I have found them before. With their disappearance, the forests have become disturbingly quieter. I cannot help but wonder what is happening to the white-rumped shama.

The market demand for white-rumped shama seemed insatiable because of the birds’ melodious tweets. In March last year, the Johor Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) detained three wildlife smugglers and seized 247 white-rumped shamas at the Kulai rest area.

The RM200,000 seizure raised some serious questions. Who caught those poor 247 birds from the wild? Where were the birds caught from? Several prominent sources such as Traffic, Mongabay and Cosmos suggested that the species was facing widespread local extinctions due to rising demand.

The silent forest phenomenon in Malaysian forests is no mere coincidence. It is highly possible and appalling that our forests are currently being emptied of white-rumped shamas to satisfy someone’s selfish greed.

A recent announcement at this government website, appears to be a step backwards for conservation. It is about licence application for hunting the white-rumped shama and it baffled me. For a mere RM20, one could apply for a licence to hunt a white-rumped shama. For another RM20, one could keep the white-rumped shama he/she captured for a year.

And worst of all, a maximum of 915 licences was available for application, meaning up to 915 white-rumped shamas might be removed from Peninsular Malaysian forests this year. As the poaching of white-rumped shama has intensified over the years, it should be evident that the species is currently in danger of local extinction.

Giving out licences now implies that white-rumped shama hunting is sustainable despite intense poaching pressure. If the assumption turns out false, we will witness the extinction of white-rumped shama in Peninsular Malaysia first-hand. Therefore, I strongly urge the Pakatan Harapan government to reconsider and review the sustainability of white-rumped shama hunting in Peninsular Malaysia.

The passenger pigeon in N America is a tragic example of how an abundant species could be reduced from millions to none. Once the pigeons obscured and darkened the blue sky. Their huge number deluded people that relentless hunting would hardly dent the population.

The idea that the species could be hunted to extinction was inconceivable. Today, there are few passenger pigeons left, lying lifelessly in the safety of museums. If we fail to learn from the mistakes of the past, we are doomed to repeat them. It is not late for us to prevent the fading of white-rumped shama into history due to mistakes of our generation.

So, stop the lawlessness. Stop the hunting. Stop the silencing of our forests.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.