Kelulut bee colonies destroyed by sun bear, participants incur RM30,000 in losses

PERMAISURI: Ten participants of the Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) community stingless bee (kelulut) farming project in Kampung Pengkalan Gelap, here incurred losses of approximately RM30,000 after a sun bear destroyed 22 colonies of kelulut bees.

The project head, Prof Dr Shamsul Bahri Abdul Razak, said one of the participants discovered the incident at 8am as they were about to clean the farm, adding that the attack might have occurred between 3am and 4am.

"This is the third incident since the project was initiated two years ago. However, the losses incurred are the highest, amounting to about RM30,000.

"We have reported it to the Terengganu Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan). Traps have been set up in several locations to prevent the incident from recurring,” he said when contacted on Tuesday (Feb 12).

Shamsul Bahri, who is also UMT’s head researcher for bees and kelulut, said the unfortunate event did not dampen the participants’ spirit to continue with the project due to its good return, adding that the fishermen involved in the initiative could raise about RM1,500 per month.

"There are 200 kelulut colonies in the Kampung Pengkalan Gelap farm. The project is a collaboration between UMT, Pharmaniaga Sdn Bhd, and Yayasan Inovasi Malaysia,” he said, adding that they are conducting similar projects in Kampung Gemuruh in Terengganu and Parit Sulong and Kota Tinggi in Johor. - Bernama