Nature Alert: National Parks Are Zoos In Sarawak, Says State Wildlife Controller

Tuesday 22 June 2010

National Parks Are Zoos In Sarawak, Says State Wildlife Controller

National Parks Are Zoos In Sarawak, Says State Wildlife Controller
June 21, 2010 21:45 PM

KUCHING, June 21 (Bernama) -- The national parks in Sarawak function as zoos in their own right and there is no necessity to set up zoos in the state, Sarawak Wildlife controller, Datuk Len Talif Salleh said Monday.

Len Talif, who is also the managing director and chief executive officer of Sarawak Forestry Corporation said all the 18 national parks in the state were zoos in the natural sense.

"I personally don't think there is a need to set up zoos in the state. It is better for them (animals) to live in the wild.

"Zoos are set up in areas where there is no place to put the animals in their natural habitat but in Sarawak, we have our national parks.

"However, I will leave it to the state authority to consider that," he told reporters after a meet-and-greet session with the Sarawak Forestry Internship Programme participants, here Monday.

Len Talif was earlier asked to comment whether there was a need to set up zoos in the state when the relocation of animals would be done at various stages of impoundment of the Bakun and Murum dams.

The Bakun Dam situated in the Upper Rajang River Basin and covering an area of about 14,750 sq km, has an installed capacity of 2,400MW. Once impounded, the reservoir, spanning over Batang Balui, Sungai Murum, Sungai Bahau, Sungai Pelepeh and Sungai Linau will have a surface area of 695 sq km.

Len Talif said Sarawak Forestry had identified at least 18 permanent islands as big as 50 to 100 hectares created once the impoundment of Bakun dam commenced.

He said a plant nursery containing most of the collection of plants had been set up, while an animal rescue was established for the relocation of animals.

The Bakun dam is expected to generate power sometime next year instead of late this year as earlier planned.

It will supply power for use by energy-intensive industries like aluminium smelters, to be set up in the Samalaju Industrial Park in Bintulu.

-- BERNAMA

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=507684

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.