MALACCA: The Malacca government today denied allegations reported by the media yesterday that the state’s wild boar population was high and increasing at an alarming level, said Chief Minister Adly Zahari (pix).
He instead pointed out the number of wild boars was under control and does not pose a threat to the residents, because the authorities, particularly Malacca’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) is closely monitoring the animal population.
“We will first get confirmation from Perhilitan about the wild boar population as a whole, and we will study the factors that has caused its increase.
“Perhilitan has several initiatives to address the wild boar issue, while at the state level we have allocated funds for eradication and control programmes of the wild animals and we will increase the allocation in the future,” he told reporters here today.
Earlier he attended the fourth series of the meet the people event and the launch of a smart application in Tanjung Kling here.
Yesterday, an English-language media reported that the wild boar population in the state was alarmingly high in 30 areas in the state and 457 wild boars were culled in the first 10 months of the year.
Adly said the issue could still be resolved through various approaches among them shooting the animals as well as reviewing the management of the forest which is the breeding ground for the animals.
He said the animals came out of their breeding grounds as the areas have been interrupted by human development activities.
“If there is good cooperation from all parties this can be controlled. There is a need for a specific area for the animal’s habitat for it to live and reproduce in addition to environmental sustainability,” he said. — Bernama
