A photo showing a China trader attending to a customer at his fortune-telling booth.
MIRI: Animal activists and nature lovers are angered by a group of China traders who had allegedly abused wild birds as a tool for their so-called ‘fortune-telling’ business at a popular shopping mall here.
Malaysian Nature Society Miri Branch (MNS Miri) chairman, Musa Musbah said that he had forwarded a complaint on the matter to the Sarawak Forestry Corporation and hoped that immediate action could be taken against the traders.
“Abusing wildlife is bad enough, worst (still) when they are abusing wildlife for commercial purposes. This is an act of cruelty towards animals,” said Musa.
The incident was said to have happened inside the shopping mall’s lobby area, where China traders had opened fortune-telling booths.
Interested members of the public who patronised the booth, would be asked to pay and the colourful birds would be released to pick the fortune-telling cards for them.
Musa said regardless of whether the wild-birds were smuggled or captured locally, both methods were against Sarawak’s wildlife laws.
Since he had informed the Sarawak Forestry Corporation’s enforcement unit today, Musa said he expected further action from the government agency.