The Protection of Wildlife Act 1972 (PWA), though amended twice in 1976 and 1988, will undergo substantial changes to protect wildlife from ruthless poachers. Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas said the draft amendments were now with the Attorney- General’s Chambers.
“We are awaiting the input of the AG before it can be tabled in Parliament for the amendments,” he told Malay Mail regarding news reports quoting the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of World Fauna and Flora (CITES) on the need to amend the PWA to curb wide scale poaching.
It was learnt that the ministry had recommended heavier penalties for poaching and had set a minimum fine unlike the existing PWA which states no minimum fine. Also the draft amendments will protect many of the animals listed in the appendices of CITES.
Under the existing PWA, authorities cannot prosecute anyone found using the derivatives of a protected species in medicine as the onus is on the authorities to prove it before taking action. Uggah said the draft was done in consultation with several non-governmental organisations involved in wildlife protection and several related government agencies.
On the call by some quarters to immediately ban the issuance of hunting licences for sambar deer, the minister said he had met with the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) last week and would “monitor the situation” .
“Licences were given for deer hunting and if the situation warrants, we will ban it next season. The moment the situation reverses we will stop all hunting of deer,” he said, adding that the sambar deer was not facing an immediate danger of extinction.
Hunting of game species like sambar deer, barking deer, wild boar and bearded pigs are regulated through a licencing system.
However, hunting of deer is restricted to a limited number of months in a year with the occasional moratorium. Last month, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), in its 2008 Red List, classified sambar deer as an internationally- threatened species.
The National Tiger Action Plan for Malaysia had also recommended a moratorium on the issuance of hunting licences for the sambar deer and barking deer to provide better legal protection for these species, which are prey for the endangered tiger.
Unggah said studies on sambar deer and deer in general showed that after a hunting season, surviving females produced enough offspring to not only replace those killed, but enough to actually increase the size of the herd.
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