KUALA LUMPUR: Members of the public have been urged to report to authorities in the event of forest encroachment or illegal hunting activities in an effort to protect the endangered wildlife including the Malayan tapir.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said it was important to ensure that Malayan tapir did not receive the same fate as the Javan rhinoceros and Sumatran rhinoceros, which have gone extinct in Malaysia.

The Malayan tapir (scientific name Tapirus indicus) known locally as tenuk, cipan, badak tampung, badak tuli and badak murai, is on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Shamsul said the main threats to the tapir are habitat loss, forest fragmentation, change of the use of land, with the the tapir often becoming the victims of roadkill…