Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Urgent push for corridors to save orang utan in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: Plans to create forest corridors linking isolated habitats of orang utan in the Lower Kinabatangan region will get an urgent push.

State Tourism, Culture and Environment Assistant Minister Datuk Karim Bujang said the plans had been on the cards for several years but recent findings on inbreeding and the likelihood of extinction would serve as a “push” for their implementation.

The plan is to connect isolated pockets of orang utan habitats in the Lower Sungai Kinabatangan region by creating forest corridors.

“The Wildlife Department is looking at other short-term options including trans-locating some of the animals,” he said yesterday when asked of action to protect the1,000 or so primates.

Cardiff University conservation geneticist Dr Benoit Goossens said on Sunday that the primates were found in 11 isolated groups in the region leading to inbreeding among some.

Continue reading at: Urgent push for corridors to save orang utan in Sabah

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