Army Personnel Suspended

Why would a hunter left a dead hornbill after shooting it? Do you think a poacher dare to shoot near army camp? If it was a poacher why didn't the army track down the poacher? There are too many unanswered questions. I just don't believe it. But can you spot the spin?

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Sunday April 3, 2011 MYT 4:50:38 PM Five army personnel suspended for slaughtering hornbill

SHAH ALAM: Five army personnel, including an officer, who slaughtered a great pied hornbill and posed with the dead animal, have been suspended from duties, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.

He said the personnel would also be charged under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.

The picture of them posing with the slaughtered bird, allegedly taken at the Royal Belum State Park in Perak was published in the local media recently and made its way online, drawing criticisms from environmentalists.

Ahmad Zahid said investigations showed that the bird, a protected species in Malaysia, had been shot by a hunter.

"The bird fell to the ground and upon seeing the dying bird, they slaughtered it," he told reporters after attending a family day at a theme park, here Sunday.

Ahmad Zahid said although the army personnel were not the ones who shot the hornbill, they should have tried to save it. - Bernama

Shame of our Army

Soldiers accused of poaching protected wildlife in Royal Belum, and elsewhere

March 20, 2011 By Bella

Perak’s Royal Belum rainforest in the northern part of Malaysia is an area that is supposed to be totally protected as lying in the frontier areas bordering Thailand; smuggling and poaching activities would be rampant if there was no security. Tourist cannot go there without a permit and the Malaysian Army, especially its soldiers from the Territorial Army, Ranger, and Malay regiments in Perak, has been entrusted to patrol and protect the verdant forest area where rare and endangered animals are said to thrive under the soldier’s guard. Or so it seems.

As it has always been a well-known fact to the general public who have family, relatives, or close friends in the Army, that many of these soldiers are no forest guardian angels, but are actually involved in a great deal of poaching and destructive activities themselves.

However, the saying goes that everything is a rumour unless there is “black and white” proof. So we have for you today, a photo posted on the Facebook profile of a Malaysian soldier who proudly (shamelessly) poses with his fellow soldier friends, with a Rhinoceros Hornbill which looks like it has just been slaughtered. How disgusting!

The guess is that they could have killed it for food. Food that they can very well do without as those who know will attest that the Malaysian Army feeds its soldiers very well. The photo is said to have been taken in Belum. Even if it was not Belum, the Rhinoceros Hornbill wherever in Malaysia for the matter, is a protected species which is already classified as threatened. The Facebook page where the photo was displayed for the world to see, was copied and sent to Peraknews.com by a contact who is involved in various conservation activities in Malaysia including active involvement in Malaysian Nature Society Perak, and WWF.

The source who seeks anonymity for cited reasons, says the photo is just one prove and the tip of the iceberg for the unaccounted atrocities that the so called guardians have unleashed on the helpless animals. “Here we are thinking that Malaysian tigers and rhinos which are on the brink of extinction, are very safe and happy in Belum under Army protection,” he adds.

And now that leads one to wonder who the real poachers are, especially in an area where intruders can be shot on sight. Are outside poachers so daring enough to move in and out of Belum with a dead tiger or two, saddled on their back?

A lot of bickering, finger pointing, denial, and even alteration of facts can be expected after this exposure, but the right thing for the Army to do is to come clean by taking the right action, which is to stop its idle soldiers from participating in destructive activities that are not only detrimental to the surroundings, but also to themselves. Source here

MB: Perak will not gazette all its forests as non-logging areas

"Every government is run by liars and nothing they say should be believed" by I. F. Stone

If you want to enter Temengor Forest Reserve where alot of logging is going on, you need a Forestry permit....and that permit takes weeks to process. The ultimate aim is to discourage you from entering. At every entry point, Forestry staffs are there to mann the trucks coming in and out. So tell me, how can illegal logging activities happened? How can ordinary people enter to take pictures when entry permits are so strict? I tend to believe the quote by I.F. Stone above. Do you agree?

What about this valuable gems mine in the Temengor Forest Reserve? Any accounting for mining this valuable gems?

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Sunday September 26, 2010
By ROSHIDI ABU SAMAH
Thestar

IPOH: Perak cannot entertain demands by any party that wants all its forested areas to be gazetted as non-logging areas, said Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.

“Logging cannot be stopped completely because it is one of the major industries in the state,” he told reporters at a Barisan Nasional Hari Raya open house here yesterday.

“We are ready to work with any party to ensure that our forests are not completely destroyed,” he said, adding that it would also work with the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in its effort to protect the state’s rainforests.

Dr Zambry said the state government had already gazetted an area about five times the size of Singapore at the Royal Belum rainforest as a state park.

He agreed that the state government needs the support of the MNS and WWF to solve the problem of illegal logging and poaching at Royal Belum and its surrounding areas.

He said the two organisations could help by submitting to the government pictures of illegal logging and poaching activities.

“We will ask the relevant authorities to identify those involved and bring them to justice,” he said.

MNS: Sign the Pledge - Save Temengor Campaign 2010

Dear Members,

Greetings from MNS.

I write to encourage all members, their family and friends to help support our ‘Save Temengor’ Campaign pledge at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/savetemengor2010

In conjunction with our 70th anniversary, MNS have set itself a target for 2010, to get Temengor Forest Reserve protected and gazetted as part of Royal Belum State Park or equivalent. Time is not on our side as logging activities are ongoing as we speak, putting precious biodiversity at risk or even worse, extinction!

Please join us in this pledge and let’s do this our country and its future. For more information and full campaign details, pls visit www.mns.my or the campaign and short documentary at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSjCnA6QQ2o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcL8962xUcU&playnext_from=TL&videos=obsxfoiej44

Or visit any The Body Shop outlets in Peninsular Malaysia and sign the pledge book there.
For our members in Sabah and Sarawak, pls contact your branch representatives.

Thank you.


Warm regards,

Tan Sri Dr Salleh Mohd Nor
President
Malaysian Nature Society