The image of a mother elephant mourning her dead calf – killed by a lorry on a highway in Perak – has haunted people in Malaysia. It has forced the country to confront the cost of development when nature is in the way.
But elephants are not the only victims. The Malayan tapir – shy, solitary and just as iconic – is being pushed toward extinction. Since 2020, at least 112 have been killed by vehicles – often at night, on roads that cut through what is left of their forest habitat.
Astro Awani’s Melisa Idris speaks with IS Shanmugaraj Subramaniam, the executive director of the Malaysian Nature Society, and Dr Evelyn Lim Ai Lin, a senior lecturer at UPM’s Faculty of Forestry and Environment and research associate at its Institute for Social Science Studies.
Produced by: Astro Awani
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
