(MY) wildlife smugglers

[Guest guest]

2007/09/13 - New Straits Times

 

Wildlife smugglers: Why the penalties fail to deter offenders

By : M. GANESHADEVA, Kuala Lumpur

 

 

 

Wildlife and National Parks enforcement personnel with pangolins that

were saved during a raid.

 

 

I REFER to your report, ( " Where a baby orang utan is worth a Mercedes "

— New Sunday Times, Sept 2). I agree with the livestock trader, Kenny,

that fines and penalties for wildlife smuggling are a joke.

 

In Kenny's words: " If I get caught with one pangolin, I may get fined

RM2,000. If I get caught with 200, I am still fined RM2,000. "

 

For those caught smuggling timber, the fine is based on 10 times the

value of the timber confiscated. A similar method of computing and

imposing fines (based on 10 times the value of the wildlife extracted,

including the value of the animals that die during the smuggling)

should be adopted for those caught smuggling wildlife or wildlife

carcasses.

 

They should also be charged with cruelty if the animals are cramped

into cages and/or treated cruelly in the process of catching, storing

or transporting.

 

Any fine less than 10 times the value of the animals would not be a

deterrent since for every batch of smuggled animals recovered, the

smuggler would have got away with several more batches at other times.

 

Which is why wildlife smugglers go back to their old ways after they

have been caught.

 

Perhaps the courts should impose jail sentences instead of fines on

repeat offenders.

 

Wildlife smugglers are often said to enlist the help of the Orang Asli

to catch wildlife, for which they are paid a pittance (compared with

the huge amounts raked in by the smugglers).

 

The help of the Orang Asli could be sought to provide information

about these smugglers and they could be paid incentives out of the

fines collected, more than that offered to them by the smugglers.