Urgent need for wildlife protection measures on Tawai forest road, say conservationists
KOTA KINABALU: Appropriate wildlife protection measures are needed for the proposed Pan-Borneo Highway stretch that cuts through central Sabah's Tawai Forest Reserve in Telupid.
Sabah conservationists said this was necessary, citing the incident where an elephant calf was killed along the East-West Highway in the Belum-Temenggor Forest Reserve.
Conservationists from Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) Prof Benoit Goossens and Seratu Aaatai's Dr Nurzhafarina Othman reiterated their concerns and objections over road that cuts through the biodiversity rich Tawai Forest.
Goossens said the incident underscores the broader issue of human-wildlife conflict exacerbated by infrastructure development.
"The Malaysian government has announced plans to incorporate dedicated wildlife crossings into future highways to prevent similar incidents.
"Why not act now for the Pan Borneo Highway?" he said, adding he hoped it would be done before construction for the proposed alignment starts.
Goossens, said DIFC, which is part of the Humans, Habitats, Highways Coalition (3H), has been against the road cutting through Tawai forest reserve.
Nurzhafarina said 3H had highlighted that roads through wildlife habitats not only leads to fatal accidents but also increases the risk of poaching and habitat fragmentation.
"Events like the May 11 incident, will definitely happen in Telupid if nothing is done," she said.
She said the proposed road would endanger the elephant population as well as other protected species such as the Bornean orangutan, Sunda clouded leopard, Malayan sun bear and the Bornean peacock pheasant in the forest reserve.
"We sincerely hope that mitigation measures could be implemented immediately, such as building dedicated wildlife crossings – or even better – viaducts at two elephant hotspots our research has identified.
"There is also a need to enforce speed limits and install warning signs and lighting to alert drivers of potential wildlife crossings.
"Finally, preventing heavy lorries from using the stretch at night and force them to use the existing Telupid road would limit the chance of accidents leading to human and wildlife casualties," Goossens and Othman jointly said in a statement on Friday (May 23).
In the May 11 accident, a five-year-old male elephant calf was killed when it was hit by a 10-tonne lorry along the East-West Highway in the Belum-Temenggor Forest Reserve.
The incident caught national attention and sparked public outcry when viral videos showed the calf's mother staying by its side for five hours, in a futile attempt to rescue her offspring.
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