‘Bond Girl’ Michelle Yeoh to be Sabah wildlife conservation advocate

Source: Malay Mail online

Published on 30th March, 2015 by Julia Chan

Yeoh (right) said she will also work with the Sabah wildlife ministry on educating the public on the importance of conserving wildlife in the state. — Picture by Julia Chan

KOTA KINABALU, March 30 — Hollywood celebrity Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh, touched by wildlife conservation efforts in Sabah, will help promote the preservation of the state’s endangered species to the world.

The Ipoh-born actress said she said she will work with the Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry on a documentary to highlight Sabah’s marine treasures including its turtles and coral reefs.

“I’ve been championing the orangutans but will work on other endangered wildlife. We are so blessed to have so much diversity and it is our duty to protect them. It is my duty to give them a voice,” she said.

Yeoh, who is the Malaysian Ambassador for Orangutan Conservation, said she witnessed first-hand the diversity and uniqueness of Sabah’s wildlife at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation centre and Kinabatangan river, and was impressed by the conservation work underway.

“There is always more to be done. The work here is Sabah is commendable. There are some concerted efforts being made to address the issue but the sad part is the problem is still there.

Malayan tigers in danger of becoming extinct

Source: Asia One

Published on 16th September, 2014 by Patrick Lee

PETALING JAYA – Poachers and deve­lopment have pushed Malaysia’s tigers to the brink of extinction.

The country’s national animal is now categorised as a critically endangered species on the IUCN Red List, with official estimates pegging the population of the big cats to as low as 250 to 340.

“Poaching for illegal commercial trade is the greatest and most urgent threat to tigers in Malaysia, followed by loss and fragmentation of forests,” Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) and the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (Mycat) said a joint statement.

Mycat general manager Dr Kae Kawanishi said data collected only by NGOs showed more than 2,241 poacher traps and 1,728 illegal camp sites were destroyed in local forest reserves and protected areas between 2010 and 2013.

“Intelligence has also indicated a sharp increase in the number of trespassers and poachers in forests across the region since 2012,” she told The Star.

Dr Kae said tigers and other wildlife were being hunted by both local and foreign poachers “right under our noses”.

Previously, the estimated number of Malayan tigers in the country was at 500.

Wildlife protection groups upset over Anson decision

Source: The Star Online

Published on 25 February, 2012

PETALING JAYA: Wildlife protection groups are upset with the court decision to allow the appeal of convicted wildlife trader Anson Wong, who has since been released from jail.

WWF-Malaysia likened the decision as “flying in the face of efforts by various stakeholders to curb the rising threat of illegal wildlife trade”.

Wong, who walked free on Wednesday after the Court of Appeal reduced his jail sentence from five years to 17 months and 15 days, was described by WWF-Malaysia as an “internationally known notorious wildlife trafficker”.

The movement hoped the Court of Appeal would hand down a written judgement so the public could better understand the decision.

Anson “Lizard King” Wong freed from jail

Source: New Straits Times

Published on 16th February, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian appeal court on Wednesday freed a wildlife trafficker known as the “lizard king” who had been caught trying to smuggle boa constrictors, overturning a lower court’s sentence
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Anson Wong was arrested in August 2010 at Kuala Lumpur airport as he tried  to smuggle 95 of the endangered snakes to neighbouring Indonesia.

The Malaysian, who is in his 50s, was sentenced to six months in jail later  that year. Prosecutors appealed the verdict at the high court, but it extended  the sentence to five years.

But Judge Low Hop Bing, sitting at the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya, the administrative capital south of Kuala Lumpur, overturned the sentence on  Wednesday and ordered Wong’s immediate release.

“The high court did not make any reference that the appellant had pleaded guilty in the lower court,” Low said.

Malaysians apprehended for smuggling pangolins

Source: MCOT Online News

Published on 30th January, 2012

SONGKHLA, Jan 30 – Two Malaysian men were arrested in southern Thailand Monday for smuggling pangolins—an endangered species commonly known as the spiny anteater– while passing through the inbound immigration border checkpoint in Sadao district.

Forty-five pangolins weighing over 100kg were found in 24 net bags hidden under the back seat of the suspects’ vehicle.

The two men were identified as Mr Ahmad Ikram Bin Anuar and Muhamad Shaifol Bin Abidin.

The suspects were detained for questioning and confessed they had bought the wild animals from Malaysia in order to deliver them to customers in Thailand’s Sadao district.

Smuggling pangolins is against the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES. (MCOT online news)

Malaysia remains a hub for the illegal wildlife trade

November 8, 2011

Free Malaysia Today Letter

From Sean Whyte (Nature Alert), via e-mail

Along with others, I have been investigating the illegal wildlife trade in Malaysia since 2006. In all that time we have seen no evidence of the trade diminishing, despite government comment and promises in the media to tackle the trade.

In our opinion Peninsula Malaysia remains a hub for the illegal wildlife trade, which can only be possible due to still almost non existent law enforcement. More recently our concerns have spread to Sabah, home to Malaysia’s lucrative ecotourism industry.

The case of the high profile illegal wildlife trader (Anson Wong) has left many reasonable questions unanswered by Perhilitan, leaving one to presume a cover up has been attempted to protect others implicated in the trade.

In July 2010, 400 (no less) tortoises were smuggled into Malaysia. The handling of this case can at best be viewed as clumsy or, less generously as yet another cover up to protect vested interests in Malaysia.