PETALING JAYA: There is now a regional conservation roadmap for flying foxes as an urgent measure to ensure that the endangered animal does not go into extinction, especially in peninsular Malaysia.
The giant fruit bats are one of the most threatened groups of bats in the world.
It has been unnecessarily threatened by disease and being labelled as pests when their conservation is important for pollination, especially of durian trees.
Non-profit conservation research group Rimba said in a press statement Monday (Jan 6) that the roadmap was produced in collaboration with the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia (Perhilitan).
"Rimba’s Project Pteropus (flying fox) has been working on flying fox conservation in collaboration with Perhilitan since 2012.
"The Conservation Roadmap serves as a guide for flying fox conservation in peninsular Malaysia, with preliminary guidelines on the necessary research and conservation actions that are needed to protect peninsular Malaysia’s highly threatened flying fox populations," said Rimba in the statement.
Perhilitan Director-General Datuk Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim (pic) said the roadmap would tackle the decline in populations of flying foxes or “keluang” in Malay, which are now in an alarming state.
"Although not as popular as our more charismatic tigers and elephants, these majestic fruit bats are also a national treasure, and play such a crucial role in our ecosystems and durian agriculture.
“They are a rare sight now, and we must do what we can to protect them before it’s too late, ” said Abdul Kadir.
Project Pteropus principal investigator Dr Sheema Abdul Aziz explained that flying foxes, which are also known as giant fruit bats, are one of the most threatened groups of bats in the world.
"The flying fox is recognised as locally endangered in peninsular Malaysia, and protected under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010. They play a critical dual role in forest maintenance and regeneration as pollinators and seed dispersers, and are particularly important for pollinating durian trees," said Sheema.
In Sept 2017, The Star highlighted the need to save these fruit bats as flying foxes are disappearing from our forests and according to a team of researchers, this could be devastating to the multi-million ringgit durian industry.
Their numbers have declined sharply due to hunting and habitat loss, as their meat has also been sought after as a delicacy and for medicinal purposes.
"Their decline has ecological implications for the country’s numerous ecosystems at a wider landscape level, and could even affect the national durian industry," said Sheema.
The Conservation Roadmap is the output of a regional project spearheaded by the South-East Asian Bat Conservation Research Unit and funded by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
It aims to provide an understanding of the drivers and actors behind hunting and trafficking of flying foxes in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
"Apart from Rimba and Perhilitan, this regional project involves a consortium of local academic institutions comprising Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas)," said Sheema.
The Flying Fox Conservation Roadmap is now available online and can be freely downloaded at http://bit.ly/flyingfoxconservationroadmap.
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