00:00hello and good evening i'm melissa idris welcome to consider this this is the show where we want
00:16you to consider and then reconsider what you know of the news of the day malaysia has already lost
00:21our last sumatran rhino in 2019 and now we may be watching another gentle ancient species fade
00:30quietly into extinction the malayan tapir more than a hundred have been killed by vehicles since
00:37two since 2020 and they're often at night and on roads that cut through what's left of their forest
00:44habitat is there still hope that we can save the malayan tapir and what must be done before that
00:51window closes joining me now on the show is is sean mugaraj subramaniam who is the executive
00:57director of the malaysian nature society sean welcome to the show thank you for joining me
01:03this is a distressing statistic to learn that over a hundred malayan tapirs have been killed on roads in
01:10the last four years can you maybe begin our conversation by explaining why does this keep
01:15happening why do these slow gentle animals end up on roads and why can't we stop them from getting
01:23killed in road traffic collisions um yeah as we know uh our our forests you know is really shrinking to say
01:34and uh and uh and tapir they they they move around you know they cross in uh areas which uh uh open areas
01:46especially grassland and all and and most of the time when tapir comes you know across with a vehicle
01:53they just stay put you know they don't run yeah and in the in the wire as well you know when they they
02:01they see something bigger than them and all they just stay put and then they just don't move and then
02:07then slowly they will move you know this is it's a very slow moving uh animal in the forest and and and
02:15and tapir likes to you know fit on on uh plants so they go to forest age and they go to areas where there is
02:26openings in in in forest forest gaps and all and uh so they they got more than not mistaken 217 species of
02:36vegetation or or you know that they eat so uh so they they they cannot climb trees so they like to eat
02:45young shoots and young you know leaves and all and so that's why they come to the forest age so closer to
02:53yeah so sean can i just ask you about these um so our roads that cuts through forested areas
03:01and have them has there been consideration about them you know the migration the way animals move
03:07uh have we thought about wildlife crossings is that been built into the design of our roads
03:15is it we we have wildlife crossing in in few areas in the country uh but is it enough that one
03:21would not know and and as well as animals you know they when you build this type of crossing
03:30yeah maybe one time they will use but not regularly okay and uh if if the if their areas been disturbed
03:40for sure they will they will go to the nearest uh place you know roaming areas where they move in there
03:46is disturbance in these areas they will move uh and they will they will cross over roads and and and
03:53maybe plantations and maybe uh housing areas and and most and most of the time our our our roads
04:03are really crossing over uh huge landscapes and forest landscapes yeah beyond roadkill um what do you
04:12think are some of the main threats that that's really driving the lane tapir towards extinction are we how
04:18concerned are you what what indicators are you watching uh is the shrink of uh forest areas huge forest areas
04:27there's a lot of uh areas been open for uh you know everybody knows this this you know state revenue
04:36related to logging and all so and and uh so when there is opening of or there is disturbance in the forest
04:45and and this tapir starts to move around and they are not a very aggressive animal so they are very shy
04:53so sometimes they if there is a lot of uh disturbance and all they will they will just
04:58you know go away from that landscape and also food food source and if there is lacking of food source as
05:07well they will still move and if you see where where you know in the ecosystem uh you know trees grows
05:17vegetation grows certain high level and if you don't have elephants and around to you know break the the the
05:26open the the the dog the the vegetation so that the the more smaller creatures can feed along where the
05:33elephant moving moving ground areas so that's why we find across uh uh uh tapir starts to come out to
05:43housing areas and and this type of uh uh field areas yes so you said that you know they're they're shy
05:52they're not aggressive they're rarely seen they're slow moving they're gentle creatures they're not
05:59as um i would say if i may say they're not as iconic as the malayan tiger or the the elephant can i ask
06:08you why we should save the tapir what do we lose both ecologically and morally if we let this species vanish
06:17is it uh the malayan tapir the black and white you find in only in this region yeah even though there
06:29is uh uh the other species but the black and white species you find more in peninsula malaysia i think
06:36goes right up a bit to to thailand you know and vietnam a bit but then it's more towards in this
06:42peninsula that's why they call the malayan tapir you know so and uh uh when when and this species
06:52it's it's it's it's also related to the uh if not mistaken it was the horse family you know
07:01yeah yeah so i didn't know that and it's a very unique you know it's a very unique uh uh species
07:11and we have lost that i know and and to say like example we have certain states they are losing their
07:20wildlife as well in slango the biggest animal that they come across is only tapir
07:26okay okay we don't find uh elephant we don't find uh the sladang you know or even tiger in slango
07:38we only have tapir now and uh so other states also the same thing slowly uh you know when we have the
07:46the disturbance of of this uh habitat and this is where the species we lose this species and when we lose
07:54these species we there will be changes on the ecosystem as well all right uh so what what policy
08:04shifts have you seen to address this this isn't something that's happened overnight we've seen a
08:09decline in the malayan tapir population for several years now even the minister raised the worrying
08:15statistics i i mentioned at the beginning of the show about tapirs being killed by road accidents
08:22what policy shifts have you seen sean that um show that the state is the state both federal and state
08:30level um is serious about addressing the population decline yeah like like slango now they know that
08:37tapir is a very icon species and it becomes the the state the state species you know as tapir so for slango
08:44use the state uh what they call it animal and uh and as well as the the uh federal government has together
08:56with wildlife department they are looking at you know we have the tapir rehabilitation center in sungai
09:02doson and as well as the coming one that will be in negeri sembilan somewhere near kinaboy national park
09:09uh kinaboy forest reserve somewhere around there in in uh negeri sembilan so uh and they are looking at
09:17rehabilitation center but the other aspect is uh uh
09:24the habitat itself preserving the habitat this is where uh the the federal government is very strongly
09:31looking at uh more landscape to be uh uh protect that is what we are looking at we have the royal
09:40balloon we have the edda rompi national park and we we have the uh taman negara so but other places
09:49like the peat swamp you know we have to we have to have these these huge landscapes for this wildlife
09:56right so um what would you say would be the most urgent intervention right now i mean if we had to act
10:04as quickly as possible to protect the malayan tapir from um going extinct what would you like to see if
10:10you could push through one urgent intervention uh what would it be you see we have the forest reserve act
10:19but we also have the wildlife act not all forest reserve is wildlife act
10:28yes so like example taman negara yes we have taman negara we have double we have forest the whole area
10:34is uh is a is a permanent forest reserve and also is under the wildlife protection act
10:41so why not when we have the wildlife protection act which governance by the federal government
10:48so if we can have most of our important landscapes to be protected under the wildlife act which there is
11:00another that means you have double double law so either you protect the the trees and and and the whole
11:09ecosystem but we also need to protect the wildlife so this are this we already have the law we already
11:16have everything you just need to place it only the state government need to work with the federal
11:21government to it's a very it's a very straightforward thing if the state government says yes i protect
11:27this area together we have the forest reserve we protect with the wildlife act immediately it's it's a it's
11:34like a double protection in this landscape so so you're saying it's actually quite low hanging fruit it
11:40can be done uh what's stopping it from happening land when it comes to land is state matter so if if we
11:50have this double protection uh then anything they you know they have to get both parties to agree for
11:58opening land space like now states can open their land if they they just you know have their own uh
12:07discussion in the state level and they can just open the land for any development but if you have this
12:14double protection you will you start to protect yeah sean sean i have to ask you so you said that um
12:20you know selangor has made the tapir it's state uh icon it's state animal icon state mascot right is
12:26has that gone beyond just the cosmetic beyond just the superficial are they doing um are they acting on
12:33really protecting what has what they've made as their state animal icon uh yes they they are looking at
12:43uh these species they are they are trying to uh protect more uh landscape of of wildlife landscape
12:53because they know that they need to have huge areas for protection so the state is looking at it
13:00but uh all is how serious are there that is another thing that we have to look at
13:05okay well hopefully it's it's not too late before we lose this wonderful species sean thank you so
13:15much for joining me on the show and shedding some light on this really urgent and important matter i
13:20appreciate your time thank you that was is sean mugaraj subramaniam from mns there uh and that wraps up
13:27this segment of consider this we'll be back with more on the topic of saving the malayan tapir in just a few
13:32minutes stay tuned we'll be right back
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