Changes made to Lok Kawi Wildlife Park

Kota Kinabalu: Deputy Chief Minister-cum-Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Christina Liew assured that the Sabah Wildlife Department under her Ministry has made the necessary changes in the management of the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park (LWP) or Lok Kawi Zoo."The condition of the animals has by far improved tremendously. Elephants have gained weight and the orang-utans have been put on a new strict diet plan. The rectification works on the elephant display area are ongoing and progressing well," she said in a statement, Sunday.

The renovation works entail rebuilding the one-acre enclosure (that is, elephant display area), improving the bathing pool for the elephants and repairing the electric fencing that serves to prevent the animals from escaping.

Liew was responding to an article entitled "Baby Elephants Are Dying At This Zoo - And No One's Doing Anything" on the www.thedodo.com.

The article claimed that when the enclosure (elephant exhibit area) shut down eight months ago, the elephants were moved to a concrete area at the back of the zoo, where they spend up to 24 hours a day in chains, according to Upreshpal Singh, who is Director of Friends of the Orang-utans, a local animal welfare group.

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According to Liew, most of the photos in that article are about five months old and the content seems to be recycled news.

She, however, expressed concern over the unnecessary delay in the elephant display area renovation works, saying it is taking too long to complete.

"It is already one month overdue and we cannot keep the elephants in the concrete area for too long. We must let them move freely in the enclosure. I will get my Ministry to contact JKR to expedite the works and get it completed as soon as possible," she said.

Countering claims that the Zoo management was not providing adequate medical care for its animals, Liew said whenever the elephants fall sick, they would be attended to by the department's veterinarians.

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She also disclosed that next month, an international organisation called Wild Welfare based in the US will be coming for a week and will be doing a full independent audit on LWP.

"Besides that, they will also be giving us advice and some training on zoo management," she added.

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