NGO claims cover-up over Malacca Zoo 'missing animals'

The Zoo Operators, Breeders, Pet and Wildlife Traders Association (P4PHM) is claiming the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) is attempting to cover-up the issue of 'missing animals' at the Malacca Zoo.

P4PHM said they are planning to lodge reports with the police as well as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

P4PHM's animal welfare and ethics sub-committee chairman Dr Razeem Mazlan Abdullah said the latest statement by Perhilitan director-general Datuk Abd Rasid Samsudin is an “outright lie” and amounted to abuse of power.

“He said the animals have been transferred to rescue centres but where are these centres? Where are these animals? How healthy are they? Are they alive or dead?” asked Razeem, who is a former veterinarian at Malacca Zoo.

Razeem further claimed Perhilitan were actually shifting animals from one zoo to another, which are against proper procedures.

He added that lions from Johor’s Saleng Zoo have been transferred to the Kemaman Zoo in Terengganu in this manner.

“Confiscated animals are being put to sleep without proper reasons.

“It is of public concern. Wildlife will soon be extinct as these animals are being put to sleep and the public are cluesless about it,” he claimed.

On Thursday, Razeem had reportedly claimed that 230 zoo animals were “unaccounted for”.

This discovery was based on a stock list of animals when Perhilitan handed over the management of the zoo to a private consortium.

The missing animals included mammals, reptiles and birds. He was hired as a curator for a week during the took over.

Razeem said a giraffe had perished because it was not fed for three days and blamed Perhilitan for failing to do a proper handover.

“When the new management and I asked for a proper list of the animals, Perhilitan was uncooperative and gave me the excuse that the list is protected under the Official Secrets Act,” he claimed.

“I then realised some animals were taken away with the reasoning that the zoo was overcrowded and the management could not handle the animals,” he claimed.

“They should be responsible for the animals’ welfare but they did not allocate any food for these animals,” he claimed, adding that the management had to source for their own suppliers then.

“If you actually talk about Perhilitan’s work on animal welfare, and ethics of work, it has just gone down the drain.”

However, Perhilitan has denied the animals were missing but transferred to rescue centres.

State Perhilitan director Mohammad Khairi Ahmad dismissed P4PHM's allegations, calling them "baseless".

"We deny that the animals shifted out were placed in other zoos or put to sleep. They are all in rescue centres such as in Perak, Pahang, Johor, or let loose into the wild," said Mohammad Khairi.

He denied that there were any breach of procedures as alleged, saying that shifting of animals go through a strict process which requires approval by the natural resources and environment minister.

"We needed to make sure Malacca Zoo abided by regulations under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 and there were cases where their enclosures were not big enough so we moved out some of these animals," he said.

"Ony one giraffe died and that too due to a fall. A post mortem done, otherwise we would not have known the cause of death."

On allegations that Perhilitan was not cooperative during the zoo transfer, he said that while it is true that certain information is considered "government secret", the new zoo management had all the information of the animals.

Mohammad Khairi said that they were open to being investigated as it was everyone's right if they had any doubts over the department's work.

"They should have check the facts with us first before making such accusations," he added.