One of the few positive outcomes of the Covid-19 outbreak was that, because to tighter movement and border controls, animal poaching instances in Malaysia were reduced to nil last year.
Wildlife smuggling also decreased by 60% in 2021, according to the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan), from ten incidents in 2020 to four last year.
Poaching instances were 10 last year and will also be 10 in 2020, according to the department.
However, Noor Alif Wira Osman, the agency’s enforcement director, attributed the decline to the formation of a National Task Force (NTF).
“Wildlife smuggling cases dropped since the government formed the NTF, which comprises 19 enforcement agencies.
“Their task is to manage illegal entry into the country,” he said.
The majority of wildlife smuggling activities, according to Noor Alif, took place in Johor.
“Such activities are concentrated in Johor because of the number of possible wildlife trafficking routes there.
“These are where traffickers gather, transport and distribute animals and their derivatives to Indonesia,” he said.
The National Task Force (NTF) was organized in May 2020 to reinforce the country’s border security in order to prevent illegal immigration and the spread of Covid-19, as well as poaching.
Meanwhile, the Wildlife Conservation Society of Malaysia (WCS-Malaysia) thinks that the Khazanah Integrated Operation (OBK) has had a substantial influence on the reduction of all forms of poaching and wildlife smuggling.
Dr. Mark Rayan Darmaraj, the organization’s country director, said OBK, which began in September 2019, was one of the government’s greatest initiatives to engage multi-agencies to work together to combat illegal wildlife trading and poaching.
The police, Customs Department, and state forestry and wildlife enforcement authorities collaborated on the operation, and by December 2021, they had detained 350 people and retrieved fauna worth RM36.1 million on the black market.
In the process, they also demolished 1,425 animal traps.
WCS-Malaysia is a non-profit organisation dedicated to protecting animals and natural areas around the world via science, conservation, and education. – Bernama
