(MY) hunting in Sabah state?????

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends, do you think this is a good idea?

 

 

Spotlight: Licensed to hunt - New Sunday Times

*23 Jul 2006*

JASWINDER KAUR <jaswin

 

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*Fancy shooting a wild boar or a barking deer? Soon you can pack your guns

and head for Sabah's east coast and hunt with peace of mind.

*

A CONTROVERSIAL move to set up special game reserves for hunting in Sabah

could help stop the illegal hunting of wildlife. Two or three game reserves,

each measuring between 400 and 2,000ha on the east coast will be identified

by the Sabah Wildlife Department.

 

" When we have the special game reserves, we will not allow hunting in other

areas, " said Laurentius Ambu, deputy director of the department. " It will be

easier for us to monitor hunters, something which is a bit difficult to do

now. "

 

Conservation aside, Ambu is convinced the idea will have its monetary

rewards as well.

 

" We are thinking of both economics and conservation, " says Ambu. " There is

economic value to our wildlife resources, and since the instinct to hunt is

still alive, we can designate game reserves. "

 

The target market are urbanites, who have had enough of shooting static

objects in shooting ranges, and hunters from the region.

 

" Many people have this itch to hunt because they own firearms. They are no

longer keen to go to the shooting range, they want the thrill of shooting

game. "

 

While the department now charges a minimal fee for hunting, it is losing

millions because hunters illegally hunt game, with wild boar topping the

list.

 

Game meat is sold at tamu (weekly market in the districts) and at

restaurants, according to a study by a consultant, commissioned three years

ago.

 

Ambu said they will look at all angles before the hunting reserves areland

areas. Then, we want to make it clear there will be a hunting season of

between three to four months.

set up.

 

" First, we need to speak to forest plantation owners and those who own large

 

" We will also have a nursery to stock and breed game like wild boar, barking

deer, mousedeer and porcupine to be released into the reserve before the

season starts.

 

" Of course, we have to do an inventory first and then decide which game

animals to replenish. At the moment, we don't have a census on game

animals. "

 

Before a hunting licence is issued, a hunter will have to attend a course.

 

" The hunter must know how to identify species, have knowledge of the law and

know his responsibility in handling firearms. "

 

So how will the department make sure that hunters don't encroach into forest

reserves since it plans to set up these reserves on the east coast which is

rich in protected wildlife like orang utans, Borneo pygmy elephants and the

rare Sumatran rhino?

 

" We have our enforcement units and honorary wildlife wardens in these areas.

When we have game reserves, it will be easier to monitor what is happening. "

 

Ambu said there are wild board hunters who end up shooting species which are

protected.

 

" This is what we call opportunistic shooting. They can't shoot animals such

as elephants. They just shoot because they want to. They can't go to areas

with protected species when we set up game reserves. "

 

To protect the rights of local people who need to hunt to survive, the

department will continue to issue the " animal kampung licence " as stipulated

under the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997.

 

To help in animal conservation, the department is already working with a

village in Tambunan, in the deep reaches of the Crocker Range.

 

The villagers have been taught to do their own inventory and know the

importance of a gestation period to sustain the number of animals. They have

also been made honorary wildlife wardens to check for abuse of the system.

 

" We will eventually run this project in other villages. "

 

Ambu said they will not stop issuing licences to villagers because " they

need game for protein and to sell some of it for money " .

 

Feedback from the public and non-governmental organisations will be

gathered. Department officials will also visit established game reserves

abroad to see how they are being managed.

 

" If the public is behind us, we will go further. "

 

Malaysia Nature Society (Sabah branch) chairman Omar Kadir says the concept

is good but careful planning is needed.

 

He says breeding must be done properly with input from other agencies such

as the Veterinary Department.

 

" In some countries, the deer is a threat to natural forests because they

disturb trees. But we don't have that problem here. Our concern is that

there could be abuse on the pretext of hunting permitted animals.

 

" Lack of enforcement is another worry. These are things the department has

to look at in detail before they actually set up the reserves. "

 

" We may have all the rules, but we also have people who throw rubbish from

luxury cars, " says Omar. " We can assume that people who drive these cars are

educated and well off, but they don't respect the law. "

 

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*Spotlight:* Will the hunters kill Sabah's golden goose?*23 Jul 2006*

Elizabeth John <jlizzjohn

 

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*GAME hunting in special reserves could turn out be the next big shot in the

arm for Sabah's economy.

*

But there's also a nagging feeling that if poorly handled, it could kill

Sabah's golden goose — the wildlife that attracts tourism dollars.

 

" The wildlife situation is already very critical. Should we be opening

hunting up to everyone? " asks Raymond Abin of Sarawak-based Brimas.

 

Sabah's neighbour has long restricted hunting to indigenous people and those

living along forest fringes.

 

They are only allowed to hunt for subsistence — to feed their families.

 

Even so, abuse is rampant, says Abin, a programme director at Borneo

Resources Institute Malaysia.

 

" It is common, for instance, for big traders from the town to supply local

hunters with cartridges, " says Abin.

 

" Traders then buy the wild meat and this is how hunting becomes commercial,

though it was never meant to be. "

 

If the game reserve system is too open, Abin fears it will lead to

exploitation and defeat the whole purpose of conservation.

 

He says that Sarawak Forestry Department carries out surprise checks on

markets that sell wild meat in the State but weaknesses remain.

 

" Many take deer and wild boar out in large quantities for sale in towns and

it's hard to stop them. "

 

Hunting has, at least in some countries, led to extinction, says an article

published in Nature in 2003.

 

John Whitfield, the author of the article, cites the example of Miss

Waldron's red colombus monkey which was hunted to extinction in Ghana and

the Ivory Coast, and the disappearance of 12 species of mammals from

Vietnam's forest since 1975.

 

Mammals in tropical forests occur in low densities and breed slowly,

Whitfield says, quoting analysis by tropical wildlife ecologists. Because of

the low numbers, commercial hunting cannot be supported in this environment.

 

Even numbers are a problem. Malaysian authorities only have good estimates

of some of the more charismatic species like proboscis monkeys, orang utan

and tigers.

 

However, this is not the case for ungulates like wild pigs and deer.

 

Accurate figures for these animal populations calculated using

internationally recognised scientific methods are hard to come by in

Malaysia.

 

What then informs the decision on hunting quotas?

 

If impetus for this idea is the African savannah where safari hunting brings

in mega bucks, the idea needs rethinking.

 

Open savanna grasslands are very different from tropical rainforests.

 

The idea that all forests can supply equal numbers of wildlife and are all

equally productive has been shown to be false.

 

Wildlife supply is highest in drier forests and lowest in moist forests like

ours, shows research by scientists Robinson and Bennett published in Animal

Conservation in 2004.

 

Besides, in Africa, there is a long history of wildlife research.

 

Enforcement staff strength there is high while in Malaysia, the lack of

staff is often the excuse given for poor enforcement.

 

" Once the road opens here, people from the towns will exploit the

situation, " says a concerned Abin.

 

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*Spotlight:* It's big business and a big headache in South Africa*23 Jul

2006*

 

 

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*HUNTING is big business. Take South Africa, where it has developed into a

multi-million rand industry.

*

About 6,000 hunters visited the country during the 2003/2004 hunting season

and shot a total of 53,453 animals with a combined value of US$41 million

(RM156 milllion).

 

South Africa has an estimated 200,000 resident hunters and this sector of

the industry is worth a reported 2.9 billion rand (RM1.45 billion).

 

But even here, hunting is fraught with problems.

 

These range from unethical and immoral acts to a focus on short-term gains

rather than solid conservation objectives.

 

South Africa is now in the midst of addressing these problems in an

comprehensive overhaul of the industry.

 

Its Ministry for Environmental Affairs and Tourism set up a panel of experts

last year to investigate disturbing reports.

 

The panel has also drafted norms and standards to regulate professional and

recreational hunting.

 

Their findings and advice was partly informed by public inputs — 41 written

and 28 oral submissions.

 

The panel also commissioned four research papers. Its recommendations

include:

 

- a uniform national system that applies the same standards across the

country.

 

- a ban on captive breeding of certain species for hunting purposes.

 

- a professional bodies to accredit hunters and enforce codes of conduct.

 

- a forum to co-ordinate research on a more scientific approach to wildlife

management.

 

- this forum should be funded by a conservation levy on hunting permits.

 

It makes a commitment to only allow hunting by humane methods, by registered

hunters.

 

It also promises close monitoring of how much can be safely taken from the

wild.

 

*Source: A status quo study on the professional and recreational hunting

industry in South Africa prepared for the Panel of Experts by Traffic

East/Southern Africa.Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism

website: www.environment.gov.za.*