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LETTER | The murdering of our wildlife continues

This article is 4 years old

LETTER | The reported deaths of 50 to 60 elephants these past 10 years in Malaysian forests in all likelihood does not seem to disturb the 30 over million citizens.

These elephants died in the Sabah forests and according to Sabah Wildlife Department deputy director Dr Sen Nathan, "Every elephant in the state is exposed to poison, either from plants, the environment or the plantation area."

We are too busy chasing after national economic and personal financial success.

And so the murder of our precious wildlife is set to continue.

Wild elephants dying of poisoning is an eventuality that could only come about because of human greed and irresponsibility.

Poisoning is not a natural occurrence. If it was, then our wildlife would have disappeared a long, long time ago.

Animals have an innate ability to stay far from danger. But the indiscriminate use of poisons and wilful intent - including harmful pesticides and unsafe fertilisers - perhaps best explains how we would have murdered our elephants and other unreported wildlife deaths.

Despite all the minted laws; despite all the millions of taxpayers money allocated to finance wildlife protection and enforcement, we continue to witness the butchering, cold-blooded murders in this decade of a 'progressive Malaysia'.

We cannot sing a national tune of a country that protects nature and all its inhabitants when in truth we continue to pay scant attention to the unstoppable killing of our wildlife through poisons of sorts.

We cannot pretend to be a caring society (as is clearly enshrined in our tenets to become a developed state) when we let these murders continue in the name of development and progress.

A rainforest nation will be devastated faster then we can imagine when wildlife and flora are raped, plundered and poisoned with no care and conscience.

The continuing wildlife murders committed in Malaysia echo a very serious, insurmountable crisis looming not far off.

Yet there is no political and corporate will to act decisively and responsibly. It is always a case of "We did not do it".

Or worst, "Don't report!"


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