KUALA LUMPUR: The 2022 Auditor-General's Report revealed a nearly 90% surge in wildlife conflicts, escalating from 6,741 incidents in 2016 to 12,743 reports in 2021.
The report indicated that within the five-year timeframe, Selangor documented the highest instances of wildlife conflicts, reaching 12,065 cases, followed by Johor with 7,531 cases and Perak with 6,836 cases.
The report states that the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) documented a cumulative total of 2,562 cases of wildlife roadkill between 2016 and 2021.
"Marking 29.5 per cent out of the total cases, Pahang recorded the highest number of wildlife roadkill, with 755 cases," the report read.
Six states reported more than 100 cases of wildlife roadkill over the five years, with Johor leading at 414, followed by Negri Sembilan at 323, Perak at 301, Terengganu at 263, and Kedah at 245.
Perhilitan recorded ten types of wildlife involved in roadkills: monkey (kera), tapir, binturong, bear, elephant, leopard, pangolin, Arabian tahr (kambing gurun), tiger, and clouded leopard (harimau dahan).
Monkeys are the most frequently killed wildlife on roads, with a recorded number of 491 cases, followed by tapirs with 102 instances.
The government, as outlined by Perhilitan, is undertaking multiple proactive steps to reduce roadkill incidents, and this involved the construction of wildlife crossings or viaducts in recognised ecological corridors.
"We have positioned 280 wildlife crossing signs at 170 hotspot locations, in addition to deploying 37 sets of transverse bars to moderate vehicle speed and installing 24 solar amber lights to signal drivers about wildlife crossing zones," Perhilitan said.
State-level governmental task forces have also been established to address concerns related to conflicts between humans and wildlife.
The Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment, and Climate Change (NRECC), through Perhilitan, will ensure adherence to the Wildlife Management Plan (WMP) for all projects impacting wildlife habitats.