Questions are being asked about the fate of the sambar deer.
The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry is expected to make an announcement this week on whether to ban hunting as it is now open season on deer hunting in the peninsular.
It was learnt that its Minister, Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas, met with Wildlife and National Parks Department director-general Datuk Abdul Rashid Samsudin last week over wildlife concerns as well as to make a decision to immediately ban the issuance of such hunting licences.
Hunting of game species like sambar deer, barking deer, wild boar and bearded pigs are regulated through a licensing system.
However, hunting of deer is restricted to a limited number of months in a year with the occasional moratorium.
The sambar deer was included as a threatened species under the 2008 Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released last month.
The IUCN Red list is a science- based conservation tool, referred to by communities, governments and conservation organisations to heighten local conservation measures, to ensure the preservation of all known animal species.
The global checklist for flora and fauna had previously never considered sambar deer as being even near-threatened and has shocked local conservationists who believe that an immediate halt to hunting is needed to reassess the health of the country’s biological diversity.
The conservationists have expressed concern that the Ministry may decide not to ban hunting this season as licences had been issued.
However, such a decision could prove detrimental to the already depleting deer population in Malaysia.
The sambar deer is native to Asia, in countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines but are extinct in Singapore.
This article was taken from: the malay mail: news 17 november 2008
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