A senior engineer whose hobby is collecting endangered and protected wildlife species, including a tigress and a crocodile, was sentenced to four months' jail and fined RM550,000 by the Sessions Court in Kajang today.

Judge Noridah Adam handed down the sentence on Mohd Taha Abd Wahab, 51, after he maintained his guilty plea on nine counts of possessing protected wildlife species.

According to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan), the fine was by far the highest amount ever recorded by the department.

On the first charge of being in possession of an endangered tigress, the court sentenced him to four months in prison and a fine of RM300,000 in default 12 months' jail and ordered him to serve the prison sentence from the date of arrest on Oct 19, 2016.

On the second charge of keeping a leopard cat, he was fined RM80,000 in default six months' jail, while for the third and fourth counts of keeping a red eagle and a mountain raven, the man was fined RM50,000 or six months' jail and RM30,000 or six months' jail, respectively.

The accused was also fined RM30,000 in default six months' imprisonment for being in possession of two white-crowned Shama birds.

On the sixth to the ninth count of keeping a Schneider's Dwarf Caiman crocodile, a mouse deer, a 'Tiong Mas' bird and a white-rumped Shama, the accused was fined RM15,000 in default three months' jail, on each count.

The father of four paid all the fines.

In mitigation, his counsel Zaflee Pakwanteh appealed for lesser fines and minimum jail sentence on grounds that the accused, who was suffering fromvarious ailments, had repented and promised not to keep any more protected and endangered wildlife species without permit.

"My client was remanded for three days and it was a frightening experience for him. It was his ignorance and deep love for animals that he had kept themwithout any permit, but this has resulted in great loss to him," he said.

Perhilitan prosecuting officer Ainul Mardiyah Mohd Ali appealed for heavier sentences as the species involved were totally protected wildlife species and national assets.

"The accused's action will bring about negative impact in the long run as it had breached and disrupted the wildlife ecosystem. If these species are not protected it will lead to extinction," she said.

Ainul Mardiyah added that the accused's ignorance was unfounded as being an engineer he should be educated and matured enough to know the rules.

The engineer committed the offences at his house in Batu 13 3/4 Jalan Sekolah, Kampung Gahal Jaya, Hulu Langat in Kajang on Oct 19 last year.

For the record, the animals are protected species under the First Schedule of the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 (Act 716).

- Bernama