Wildlife patrol unit planned
Published on: Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: The Danum Valley-Maliau Basin-Imbak Canyon areas will soon be patrolled by a 50-strong team on rotation basis and possibly armed to tackle the serious problem of poaching as is done in wildlife parks in other countries.The initiative was sealed through a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding involving Sabah Foundation represented by Director Datuk Sapawi Ahmad, Sabah Forestry Department by Chief Conservator of Forests Datuk Sam Mannan and the Sabah Environmental Trust by Dr Rahimatsah Amat. "We will get input from everybody that has a role in this, do it in a proper coordinated way so that we don't waste resources because this is expensive. Protection is expensive, it is cheaper to plant trees than to protect forests," Mannan told a media conference in conjunction with the 9th International Conference on the Heart of Borneo, here, Tuesday. The conference was officiated by Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman.
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"Everybody is an enforcement officer in the department, maybe we have 1,000 people out in the field, but they are also looking after conservation works, planting including protection, etc."This is not enough, because this involves a special problem, a real problem in Sabah which is poaching," Mannan said. He said they plan to set up a squad doing nothing else but to look into this matter, not every day but perhaps on a two-week rotation basis, adding that it is going to cost them RM2 million."We are finding the money, once we find the money then we talk to our partners and see how do we do it, do we use guns and start shooting people or what," he said, adding that they already have 100 guns, including machine guns.
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"Thus, we have to sort it up, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on how to handle guns, SOP on how to go out to the field, and train people in Thailand and I don't know where else WWF have been sending our people."Our core group will then train our other people, and they must understand this is their job and the recruitment must be done properly, because there are all sorts of people around," he said.
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He also said the patrols would not only focus on the three areas but also other places identified as problematic, citing Tabin, Kinabatangan, North Deramakot, North Sagaliut, Ulu Segama (sometimes) and the Maliau route Kalabakan-Sapulut. To facilitate this they have to establish 19 field outposts throughout the state under the Federal Government. On the initial 50 personnel in the enforcement squad, he said supervision would be from the existing team.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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