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Giant panda project nonsensical
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At a time when orangutans and other animals here need more help than ever, the plan to take on loan two pandas from China is surely one of the worst decisions ever made with regards to wildlife conservation and management in our country.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister G Palanivel said the pandas will allow Malaysia to carry out research on panda conservation. This is nonsensical when the focus should be on helping Malaysian animals.

The millions of ringgit which will be wasted on the pandas should instead be channelled towards improving the welfare of animals in zoos and conservation efforts of animals endemic to Malaysia. Furthermore, what is the ministry planning to achieve from researching about pandas? Shouldn’t the money be used to research and conserve animals here?

Malaysian orangutans - who are facing big challenges for survival in the wild including from the palm oil industry - rake in tonnes of tourism money into our country, and they would of course benefit from the money spent on the pandas. Even a few million ringgit would be a tremendous help to honest and hardworking orangutan conservation groups in Sabah and Sarawak.

In zoos throughout the country, orangutans also need help to improve their living conditions and welfare. Does every zoo have an enrichment programme to ensure its orangutans remain happy and active every day? Go to any zoo here with orangutans and chances are you will see them staring into oblivion with nothing to keep their brilliant minds occupied.

Zoo Negara, which will host the pandas, could themselves do with money to improve its enclosures. Just take a look at its antiquated elephant enclosure. No one will disagree the elephants will be better off in a vastly refurbished enclosure, or better still a new one altogether.

The truth is many animals in Malaysia are in need of help, not only our orangutans. Animals in the wild and captivity need all the focus and attention they can get from our government, the ministry and Perhilitan. And so to spend millions on a Chinese animal is tantamount to selling out animals here.


UPRESHPAL SINGH is director, Friends Of The Orangutans ( www.fotomalaysia.org ).