(MY) pangolins saved

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Pangolins saved from pot - lst April - New Straits Times

By P. Chandra Sagaran

 

 

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GRIK: Twenty-seven pangolins were saved from the cooking pot on

Wednesday. An unemployed man was detained at the house in Kampung Baru

Batu Dua where the animals were seized.

 

Following a tip-off, a team from the State Wildlife and National Parks

Department, led by deputy director (enforcement) Joil Bombon, raided

the house at noon. They found the live pangolins in a pond and the

23-year-old man, the sole occupant.

 

The suspect, who was handed over to the police, was later released on

police bail. He is expected to be charged under the Wildlife

Protection Act next month.

 

Joil said four of the pangolins seized were still young. It is

believed that the house had been used to keep the pangolins for some

time.

 

The pangolin is a burrowing animal from South America with a body

encased in bony plates.

 

Its meat is high in demand, especially for exotic meat lovers in Asian

countries. It can cost RM70 per kg

 

This is the third such seizure within a week in the State.

 

On March 25, a pig-tailed macaque (berok), which is protected, with a

severed right leg was rescued in a raid at a house in Kg Tasek

Pengkalan here. Two deer antlers and 30 wire snares were also seized

and a local detained.

 

The officers also raided two other houses in the same village and

detained two Thais, aged 50 and 55. They recovered 15kg of wild boar

meat, 114 wire snares and a spent shell casing.

 

On March 23, three Thai nationals were caught by Customs officials at

the Bukit Berapit Immigration complex at the Perak-Thai border, near

here, trying to smuggle 1,500kg of wild boar meat to Thailand. A

permit is needed to hunt wild boars and deer as well as to keep deer

antlers.