(MY) Another Malaysian monkey ban article

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http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2007/9/11/lifefocus/200709110815\

03 & sec=lifefocus

 

Tuesday September 11, 2007

 

Making a quick buck

 

THE problem posed by urban monkeys highlights

the lack of a management plan, and this has

allowed the problem to deteriorate over the last 20 years.

 

The genus Macaca shares the same problem

throughout its range state, one that is created by man.

 

[Photo] The lucky ones: Wildlife and National

Parks Department deputy director Celescoriano

Razond pointing to monkeys that were recently

rescued from an orchard in Pontian, Johor.

 

The macaque is under threat due to human

encroachment upon its habitat. In countries other

than Malaysia, efforts are being made, from

documenting the extent of the problem to

proposing and testing ways in which to minimise it.

 

Many people are coming into contact with

macaques for the first time and need to be

educated on the proper ways to minimise

interaction, wrote Dr Ardith Eudey of the World

Conservation Union’s Action Plan for Asian Primates.

 

Eudey said Hong Kong and Singapore have embarked

on positive educational and control programmes.

Malaysia, he added, has the economic resources to

initiate a constructive programme rather than resort to destructive actions.

 

He has invited Malaysia to participate in the

next Congress of the International Primatological

Society to be held in Edinburgh in August 2008,

when the pest problem posed by macaques will be examined in detail.

 

Critics are not convinced that rounding up

macaques in urban areas is a long-term solution

as the fundamental problem of habitat loss would

remain unresolved. Take the case of Barbados.

Despite trapping and exporting 10,000 vervet

monkeys for research over 14 years, crop raiding

has not been reduced and the monkey population

remains stable due to high breeding rates.

 

Some think it is a ruse to obtain wild specimens,

which are preferred for research purposes. Eudey

pointed out that “urban?monkeys are not

desirable as they have been in contact with humans.

 

A country such as the United States wants clean

monkeys, meaning captivebred, for research

purposes,he said. Former Wildlife and National

Parks Department (Perhilitan) director-general

Mohd Khan Momin Khan said it was a misconception

that there was a demand for macaques caught from urban areas.

 

Urban monkeys are known to have tuberculosis and

assorted intestinal diseases.

 

They do not make good test subjects and are not

appealing to exotic food importers. Eventually,

senseless poaching of wild monkeys will ensue to

fill the demands of importers,he warned.

 

Mohd Khan, who helmed Perhilitan between 1972 and

1992 and was instrumental in getting the 1984

trade ban, said the decision to legalise export

has undermined the hard work of primate conservation groups.

 

India and Bangladesh are maintaining the ban.

Only the Philippines and Indonesia are exporting

captive-born monkeys following strict

international guidelines. Malaysia will be the

only country to drop out of this international

pact and become a monkey exporter, he said.

 

Exploitation of wild population

 

A source said with a price tag of RM250 per

macaque, indiscriminate hunting will rule. He

claimed that Perhilitan had never embarked on a

thorough sterilisation programme.

 

As a short-term measure, he suggested a

combination of culling and sterilisation to

contain the problem in high conflict areas.

 

Although Perhilitan is drafting guidelines on the

capture and export of the longtailed macaque,

many doubt that it will have sufficient resources to monitor the hunt.

 

Conservationists and animal rights activist

prefer culling to reduce the number of

long-tailed macaques, saying it was a more humane

solution than trading the monkeys for use as food or medical testing.

 

They fear that profit may motivate the decision

to allow export of the animal.

 

The very fact that the Malaysian government has

ruled out culling suggests that there may be financial motivation involved.

 

It also looks like the government is attempting

to create an export market, said Eudey.

 

Mohd Khan questioned the assertion by the

authorities that“iit is better to export than to cull.

 

Better for whom? he asked. Follow the money

trail and trace who the benefactors are.

Last week, Minister of Natural Resources and

Environment Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid candidly told

participants at a climate change workshop that he

had been approached by“ssome bright people who

saw that money could be made from exporting monkeys.

 

Sources said the proposal to export monkeys came

up prior to the retirement of Perhilitan

director-general, Datuk Musa Nordin, last

October. In a telephone interview, Musa said he

was " indirectly involved " in the trade but

declined to comment when asked if he had teamed up with a wildlife trader.

 

When pressed further, he said: “Go talk to

Perhilitan. They're the one making the policy. I'm retired.

Sources reveal that at least one company has

submitted a business plan to the ministry

proposing an export volume of between 12,000 and

20,000 monkeys per year. Each shipment will carry

between 2,000 and 2,500 specimens.

 

The business plan lists the likely buyers as two

laboratories and one breeding centre in China.

One of the laboratories is Kunming Primate

Research Centre, which is affiliated to the

Chinese Academy of Sciences. The centre was set

up in 2005 as a research base for experiments

against infectious diseases and bio-terrorism.

By Hilary Chiew and S.S. Yoga