Stop feeding eagles on Langkawi

Unhealthy practice: File photo of wild birds flocking to one of the feeding grounds off Langkawi. — Filepic/The Star

PULAU Langkawi is one of my family’s favourite places to holiday in in Malaysia. The beaches and much of the jungle remain pristine and beautiful. And there are the mangroves at the Langkawi Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) Global Geopark, which we never tire of visiting.

During our last trip to the mangroves, we engaged a boat operator we were not familiar with as our regular one was not available. This new operator threw in a deal we didn’t ask for: Eagle feeding. It was a gruesome and heart- wrenching activity as the island’s wild eagles were fed with chicken skin, fat and all.

Though it attracted a big flock of eagles to our vicinity, and though we were awed by the beautiful creatures swooping gracefully and skilfully to retrieve the food thrown by the boatman, we were totally aghast at the type of food used to lure these majestic birds closer to tourists for mere entertainment.

Feeding wild eagles is against nature.

The eagles, like all wild fauna, should be left to hunt for themselves. Hunting enhances their survival instincts and strengthens them physically. Relying on handouts will make them lose the ability and skill to hunt, and alter their natural behaviour and population dynamics.

Feeding the eagles also disrupts the ecosystem, as their prey, such as mice and snakes, will increase in numbers when no longer hunted, turning them into a menace to humans as well as disrupting the vital predator- prey balance.

Experts say that feeding animals in the wild will cause them to lose their fear of humans and they can become aggressive. They will ignore poachers, making for easy capture, and – pushed by decreasing wild habitats – boldly encroach into human settlements where they will meet untimely deaths at the hands of threatened humans.

So please break this cycle of human-wildlife conflict by stopping the interference in animals’ natural behaviour.

Also in line with advice from the experts, hand-feeding leads to large convocations of eagles gathering in one area where it becomes easy to spread disease and parasites among themselves. In fact, because they fly so close to the watching tourists, they may even pass on diseases to us humans.

What’s more, a diet comprising large amounts of chicken skin is extremely unhealthy; and since it comes from commercially bred chickens, the skin may contain bacteria and disease that do not exist in natural habitats, thereby exposing the eagles to further harm.

I sincerely hope that the relevant authorities – the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry; Department of Environment; and NGOs like the Worldwide Fund for Nature and the Malaysian Nature Society – will urgently take serious action to stop this harmful activity. This ugly practice of eagle-feeding is a black mark on the renowned Langkawi Unesco Global Geopark and compromises the island’s conservation mission.

DAPHNE

Shah Alam