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Wild animals endangered by human activity

 



In the sixties of the last century, there was no direct  road from Kluang to Mersing in Johor. One had to travel from Kluang  to Yong Peng then head on to Kota Tinggi and then travel the coastal road to  reach Mersing. The powers that be then decided to build a metalled road directly from Kluang to Mersing - one with a distance of about 60 kilometres. The proposed new road was to cut through pristine jungle which was the habitat of many wild animals. We had elephants, tigers, black panthers, civets and a large number of reptiles. To the Government Officers sitting in air conditioned offices in the Federal Capital, the lives of wild animals did not matter. 


The developers of the roads viewed the massive profits that could be derived from the opening of new roads. First there was revenue from the timber that could be harvested from the jungle clearing, then the contracts to develop new townships along the newly opened up  roads. So contracts were given out in the name of development with no regard to the fauna and flora that would be destroyed in the process. The Kluang to Mersing road was in forest land and probably forest reserve but the development of  the Kluang to Mersing road cut through the forest land with scant regard to the damage created in the pristine jungle. When the road was completed the forest was reduced to two parcels of forest land and there was an increase of animal and human interaction when the animals were forced to access the divided portions by crossing the road that cut through their reserve. 


While travelling along this road it was not uncommon to see wild animals being killed or maimed  along the stretch. It was a pitiful sight for travellers to see maimed animals fighting for their lives after being hit by vehicles but there was nothing us travellers could do to save the maimed animals as we were ill equipped to rescue them or even to perform any form of mercy killing. 


There was an instance when a mother elephant and her calf were travelling and a reckless lorry driver hit the calf and dragged the body for a few kilometres before disengaging the calf. The mother elephant gave chase and the driver and his attendant abandoned their vehicle and ran into the forest for refuge. They witnessed the elephant destroying their vehicle and a buildup of traffic on both lanes of the trunk road near the place of incident.


The road was only cleared on arrival of officers from the Game Department who managed to coax  the elephant and its calf back into the forest. After this incident the number of road signages increased warning motorists to drive with caution along the stretch of road. 


All contents (c) Ganapathy Ramasamy, mynameisgana@blogspot.com


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