Maliau bush meat at Nabawan Tamu?
Published on: Tuesday, November 24, 2015
NABAWAN: Fresh supply of bush meat continue to exist in some local weekend Tamus just like in this photo taken on Saturday morning at Nabawan town. A licensed hunter provided these images to the Daily Express, claiming these bush meat hawkers ganged up on him and threatened his life if he continued taking photos of the illegal merchandise. The hunt and sale of certain protected species are punishable by law and in this instance, included sambar deer, barking deer, bearded pig, pangolin and porcupine.
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The licensed hunter, Pat Fairuz, said he came came across a 15-man hunting party comprising local residents going on their hunt a day earlier."On my way back, I stopped by at the Tamu Nabawan to buy some meat. After what seems like a done deal, I took these photos of 'local meat sellers'."One of them pointed his finger at me and shouted – 'Jangan kau ambi gambar kami di sini. Kalu tidak kami pukul kau!' (don't take our photos here, or we will hurt you). I sensed something is wrong when 12-15 men started to gather around us."I quietly walked away. The last words that came out of his mouth was 'if I meet you in the jungle I will kill you!" he said and lodged a report.
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Sabah Wildlife Department Director William Baya when showed with the photos said they are aware of them."We are having problems with these people. They are not cooperative and worse they don't recognise our laws. They claimed that hunting is part of their culture.
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"But one thing they forgot is that there will be a time when all these game animals will go extinct due to their own doing and if that happens what then will they hunt? Why can't they think of this?" he said. He said one of his officers almost lost his fingers during beat duty at the same district." We will continue organising awareness programmes to instill in the minds of the communities the importance of wildlife conservation," he said. Baya said the department is also in the process of producing jingles on wildlife awareness in the ethnic dialects with local radio stations. Towards this end, a dialogue moderated by the Sabah Courts will be held in March to address illegal poaching activities with the aid of relevant non-governmental organisations and government agencies, he said. Kota Kinabalu City police chief Asst Comm M. Chandra in confirming the report said that the case would be forwarded to the Wildlife Department while the case of criminal intimidation would be probed by Keningau police.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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