The Sambar deer and bearded pig, both occurring in Malaysia, were recently upgraded to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) 2008 Red List of Threatened Species – stamping international concern for species in dire need of increased domestic protection.
The Red List ranks species according to their population status and threat levels both which have increased for many species as a result of habitat loss and degradation, over-exploitation, pollutants and climate change.
The sambar deer ( cervus unicolor ) was upgraded from ‘Least Concern’ to ‘Vulnerable’, an urgent wake-up call for Malaysia as the species currently can be hunted through the issuance of hunting licences.
A potential indicator of a possibly depleting supply in the wild is the number of hunting licences issued by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia.
‘In the last 16 years, there has been a steady decline in the numbers of licences issued, compared to licenses issued for other species,’ said wildlife biologist Dr. Kae Kawanishi.
‘The sambar deer populations appear to have plummeted in recent years,’ says Dr Dionysius Sharma, executive director/CEO of WWF-Malaysia, explaining that WWF-Malaysia field teams did not photograph any sambar deer during their nine-month-long camera-trapping study in Gunung Basor Forest Reserve, Kelantan; or during their 2001-2003 study in Terengganu's Jerangau Forest Reserve.
Further, Traffic investigations also reveal that the sambar deer is indeed in trouble. ‘An interview-based survey of hunters and dealers in 18 villages around major wildlife habitats in Peninsular Malaysia revealed that the sambar deer is depleted or locally extinct due to hunting in many of the areas,’ said Traffice Southeast Asia Senior Programme Officer Chris R Shepherd.
From ‘Least Concern’, the bearded pig ( sus barbatus ) is now categorised as ‘Vulnerable’ because of a population decline, estimated to be more than 30% over the last three generations, inferred from over-exploitation, shrinkage in distribution, and habitat destruction and degradation.
In Peninsular Malaysia, distribution of the bearded pig is restricted to Johor and southern Pahang – the final stronghold of the species. ‘Protective action needs to be put in place to secure the last of the peninsula’s population,’ said Dr Melvin Gumal, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Malaysia Programme.
Also upgraded was the Malayan pangolin Manis javanica, from ‘Near Threatened’ to ‘Endangered’, underlining the severity of the threat of illegal wildlife trade. According to unreleased Traffic reports, there have been many seizures of pangolins across Southeast Asia, many originating in Indonesia and Malaysia.
The leopard panthera pardus has also been reclassified from ‘Least Concer’n to ‘Near Threatened’. Joining the tiger P.tigris on the ‘Endangered’ list is the Malayan tapir Tapirus indicus .
‘Malaysia has already lost the Javan rhinoceros Rhinoceros sondaicus , the green peafowl Pavo muticus and the white-winged duck Cairina scutulata in the last 50 years, and more may have gone too without us realising,’ said Malaysian Nature Society Executive Director Dr Loh Chi Leong.
‘Hope is fading for many, and unless a more cohesive effort is taken nationally to address this issue, for both species and habitat protection, Malaysia’s key wildlife will face extinction sooner rather than later.’
The IUCN Red list is an important science-based conservation tool for communities, governments and conservation organisations to ensure that local conservation measures are stepped up accordingly.
The above was jointly issued by the Malaysian Nature Society, Traffic Southeast Asia, the Wildlife Conservation Society and WWF-Malaysia.
