KOTA KINABALU: Poachers will resort to almost anything in their zeal to hunt wildlife, including using government vehicles.
This tactic was uncovered by Wildlife Department enforcement personnel during a roadblock they conducted in Paitan recently.
The department’s director Dr Laurentius Ambu said during the roadblock which was conducted between Sept 24 and 26, enforcement officers stopped several vehicles, including one that belonged to a government department.
However, as those in the government vehicle were just setting out on their hunting trip, the enforcement officers released them, he said, adding that there was no evidence to detain them.
According to Laurentius, the department came to know that three to four government department vehicles, especially those involved in field work have been used by poachers.
“I will be writing in to the respective department heads to inform them of this matter,” he told a press conference yesterday.
Laurentius said a number of poachers were detained at the roadblock after enforcement officers found three wild boar carcasses in their vehicles.
The cases were being complied for further action and the offenders could be either compounded or brought to court, he said.
Anyone caught hunting without a license, can be fined RM50,000 or jailed five years, or both, he disclosed.
Hunters have to pay RM50 for the permit to hunt one wild boar and the validity depends on how remote the area they want to hunt in. It was learnt that the maximum validity given is one week and commercial hunters usually apply for a permit to hunt up to 10 heads of wild boar.
According to Laurentius, most of the department’s enforcement work involved carrying out road blocks and patrolling.
“In 2009, we conducted 44 road blocks and this year to date, we have carried out 63 road blocks, he said adding that most of their cases involved poachers stopped at roadblocks.
There were also a few cases which involved raids on Tamu grounds and restaurants selling wild game, Laurentius said and disclosed that most of the offenders were found selling wild boar meat and out of the 13 cases recorded this year, three had been compounded.
The high demand for wild boar meat is one reason for the increase in interest in hunting the animal, he said.
On the number of hunting licences for wild boar issued by the Wildlife Department annually, Laurentius said it depended on the quota on the number of animals to be “harvested” that year.
The quota is set by looking at the animal concentration and getting the population figure for that particular animal in the area, he said adding, “then we will decide the off-take for the animal which is about 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the population that particular year.
This year the off-take for Tawau is 1,800 heads of wild boars, Lahad Datu and Keningau 600 heads each, he said and stressed that the licences issued were only for hunting in plantations, never in forest reserves.
“It is not like everything is shot; by doing this we are ensuring the sustainability of the animal and its habitat,” Laurentius said, adding that a wild boar sow usually has a litter of between six to eight piglets, sometimes up to 12 and in areas where food is abundant like plantations, they will grow quickly.
He also advised those who want to hunt for wild boars to do it legally and apply for the necessary licence as well as ensure that their firearm licence is valid with the condition that it can be used for sports or hunting only.
Firearms which are meant to be used for protecting farms and plantations cannot be used to apply for hunting licences, he said.
Laurentius disclosed that the Wildlife Department also issues permits the hunt other animals such as Sambar deer RM150 each, flying fox RM5 each, mousedeer (pelanduk) RM35 each and barking deer (kijang) RM75 each.