A zoologist has revealed that the Malayan Gaur (seladang) and Serow (kambing gurun) are the most threatened wild animals in the country.
Citing studies , Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) Kenyir Research Institute deputy director Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Tajuddin Abdullah said the animals were now increasingly difficult to find, Bernama reports.
“The two endangered species will go extinct due to poaching by foreign hunters who have been able to evade detection similar to the fate of the Sumatran and Javan rhinoceros which went extinct 10 years ago,” he was quoted as saying.
“We are unable to give the exact timeline for them to go extinct but I am sure time is running out based on the same experience of the rhinoceros population we had carried out,” he said.
The existence of the serow — Malaysia’s only native goat — has been threatened by illegal hunting and trading in the peninsular, forcing its status to be marked as ‘vulnerable’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Traffic Southeast Asia regional director Dr Chris Shepherd had told The Star Online‘s Patrick Lee last year, that hunted serows are eaten, and their horns used as medicine.
These animals can only be hunted with a special permit issued by the Natural Resources and Environment Minister and illegal poachers face fines of between RM100,000 to RM500,000, with a maximum jail term of five years.
The Gaur — the second largest terrestrial mammal in Malaysia — is typically found in parts of South and Southeast Asia, has been on the ‘vulnerable’ list since 1986.
