Orangutan Appeal UK marks 25 years of conservation in Sabah
Published on: Thursday, April 24, 2025
Published on: Thu, Apr 24, 2025 Text Size: For illustrative purposes only. - Pic from orangutan-appeal.org.uk SANDAKAN: A UK-based conservation charity is marking 25 years of orangutan conservation in Sabah with a special celebration at Sepilok here on April 30. Orangutan Appeal UK has worked closely with the Sabah Wildlife Department since 2000, supporting the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre and broader conservation efforts. The charity has raised over RM14 million, funding rescue and rehabilitation initiatives, veterinary care, infrastructure, research, and education programmes for orangutan protection. The anniversary event will unite conservation partners, stakeholders, and supporters to honour a shared legacy and ongoing commitment to wildlife preservation. Chairman Jacha Potgieter reaffirmed the charity's long-term dedication, highlighting the vital role of partnerships in safeguarding Sabah's endangered orangutans. * Follow us on Instagram and join our Telegram and/or WhatsApp channel(s) for the latest news you don't want to miss. * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.
Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
5 hours ago
- New Straits Times
World's first gibbon born in captivity in Sabah to be released into the wild
Pictures courtesy of Gibbon Conservation Society KOTA KINABALU: The world's possibly first gibbon born in captivity will be released into the wild with its parents once it reaches 6 months of age. '"Nabalu' was born on May 8 to Candyman and Manis, a pair of gibbons rescued and rehabilitated at the Borneo Gibbon Rehabilitation Project (Borneo GReP) in Kampung Kiau Bersatu, Kota Belud. The centre was established in 2022. Gibbon experts said a successful "rewilding" must meet all release criteria outlined in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Best Practice Guidelines for the Rehabilitation and Translocation of Gibbons. Gibbon Conservation Society founder and president Mariani Ramli, a Sabahan primatologist, said Nabalu and its parents will be released as a family once the baby is over 6 months old. "With Nabalu's birth, both Manis and Candyman have demonstrated their readiness for rewilding." She said the release site must be agreed upon by all stakeholders, including the Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry, Sabah Wildlife Department and Gibbon Conservation Society. The honour of naming the newborn gibbon was given to Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Christina Liew by the Gibbon Conservation Society. "The birth on May 8 is a historic milestone for this endangered species in captivity at the rehabilitation centre. I chose the name 'Nabalu', which means Spirit of the Mountain, for this baby gibbon," said Liew. She added that the ministry, through the Sabah Wildlife Department, supports the Gibbon Conservation Society's gibbon conservation, rehabilitation and rewilding efforts. Liew congratulated Mariani for gaining international recognition for her gibbon conservation work in Malaysia. Mariani was recently appointed the only Malaysian World Female Ranger Ambassador for Resilience for 2024 and 2025. "With your passion and relentless dedication, you (Mariani) have made Sabah and Malaysia proud through your leadership in gibbon conservation.
Daily Express
10 hours ago
- Daily Express
Crocodile caught in Tun Sakaran Marine Park
Published on: Thursday, June 12, 2025 Published on: Thu, Jun 12, 2025 By: Azmie Lim Text Size: A screenshot photo from the video showing fishermen trying to capture the crocodile. SEMPORNA: A giant-size crocodile was caught at Tun Sakaran Marine Park, here, on Wednesday. It was learnt that the crocodile was caught by the Kumpulan Keselamatan Nelayan Semporna after two hours of operation. Advertisement A Facebook user, Salleh Abdul Salleh who uploaded a video showing the group while trying to catch the reptile, said the efforts and cooperation of the fishermen proved their braveness, unity and joint responsibility to protect our water. 'You not only caught a crocodile, but restored a sense of security to the entire community,' said the Facebook user. On Tuesday, Sabah Parks issued a closure notice for Pulau Bohey Dulang under the Tun Sakaran Marine Park from June 10–13. The closure was to facilitate crocodile risk mitigation operations and to ensure smooth efforts as well as public safety. They also issued an apology for any inconvenience caused. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
New Straits Times
19 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Braving bullets and bodies to reach Israeli-approved aid
WHEN university professor Nizam Salama made his way to a southern Gaza aid point last week, he came under fire twice, was crushed in a desperate crowd of hungry people and finally left empty handed. The aid site in the city of Rafah was run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a new US-based organisation working with private military contractors. At the aid delivery site, known as SDS 1, queues snaked through narrow cage-like fences before gates were opened to an area surrounded by sand barriers where packages of supplies were left on tables and in boxes on the ground, according to undated CCTV video distributed by GHF, reviewed by Reuters. Salama said the rush of thousands of people once the gates opened was a "death trap." Salama's account matched the testimonies of two other aid seekers interviewed by Reuters. Salama, 52, had heard enough about the new system to know it would be difficult to get aid, he said, but his five children - including two adults, two teenagers and a nine-year-old - needed food. They have been eating only lentils or pasta for months, he said, often only a single meal a day. "I was completely against going to the aid site of the American company (GHF) because I knew and I had heard how humiliating it is to do so, but I had no choice because of the bad need to feed my family," said the professor of education administration. In total, 127 Palestinians have been killed trying to get aid from GHF sites in almost daily shootings since distribution under the new system began two weeks ago. The system appears to violate core principles of humanitarian aid, said Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, a major humanitarian organisation. He compared it to the Hunger Games, the dystopian novels that set people to run and fight to the death. "A few will be rewarded and the many will only risk their lives for nothing," Egeland said. "International humanitarian law has prescribed that aid in war zones should be provided by neutral intermediaries that can make sure that the most vulnerable will get the relief according to needs alone and not as part of a political or military strategy," he said. An Israeli defence official involved in humanitarian matters told Reuters GHF's distribution centres were sufficient for around 1.2 million people. Gaza's population is around 2.1 million. Salama and four neighbours set out from Mawasi, in the Khan Younis area of the southern Gaza Strip, early Tuesday for the aid site, taking two hours to reach Rafah, several miles away near the Egyptian border. Shooting started early in their journey. Some fire was coming from the sea, he said, consistent with other accounts of the incidents. Israel's military controls the sea around Gaza. By the time they reached Alam Roundabout in Rafah, about a kilometre from the site, there was a vast crowd. There was more shooting and he saw bullets hitting nearby. "You must duck and stay on the ground," he said, describing casualties with wounds to the head, chest and legs. He saw bodies nearby, including a woman, along with "many" injured people, he said. Another aid seeker interviewed by Reuters, who also walked to Rafah on June 3 in the early morning, described repeated gunfire during the journey. At one point, he and everyone around him crawled for a stretch of several hundred meters, fearing being shot. He saw a body with a wound to the head about 100 meters from the aid site, he said. When Salama finally arrived at the aid point on June 3, there was nothing left. Although the aid was gone, ever more people were arriving. "The flood of people pushes you to the front while I was trying to go back," he said. As he was pushed further towards where GHF guards were located, he saw them using pepper spray on the crowd, he said. "I started shouting at the top of my lungs, brothers I don't want anything, I just want to leave, I just want to leave the place," Salama said. "I left empty-handed... I went back home depressed, sad and angry and hungry too," he said.
