TA tapir that was hit by a vehicle along Jalan Sedili-Mersing on April 6.
PETALING JAYA: There should be a multi-pronged approach by state departments and highway authorities to ensure fewer animals get killed on our roads, says Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye.
Responding to the recent slew of roadkill, the Alliance for Safe Community chairman said this was due to decades of encroachment into wildlife habitats.
The issue, he said, needed consideration and collaboration between highway authorities, the Works Ministry and state wildlife departments to work out a solution. A Star Metro report on Thursday (May 6) reported that more than 100 wild animals have been killed in accidents in Johor since 2019.
This included seven tapirs that were killed since January this year.
"It's not just in Johor, but also in other parts of the country such as Pahang. It happens a lot at night when these animals cross the roads," said Lee.
The former chairman of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) said among the reasons behind the accidents involving animals were inadequate signage and poor lighting.
He proposed the installation of spotlights for stretches of roads, as well as signs to alert motorists of highway stretches where there's a higher number of animals crossing. Another cause for roadkill was speeding on highways at night, Lee said.
"In the absence of sufficient notice and inadequate lighting, I think motorists would not be able to avoid the animals in time when they speed," he added.
Lee expressed concern over the number of tapirs that were killed in road accidents recently, saying that if nothing was done to address the issue, it could push tapirs into extinction in the near future.
"The government has to act on this," said Lee, adding that drivers have a duty to protect nature, the ecosystem and to abide by traffic rules.
In a report by The Star on Thursday, Johor Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) director Salman Saaban said 15 animals were killed in the first three months of the year due to road accidents.
That figure included an incident where a 250kg male tapir was found dead after it was hit by a heavy vehicle along Jalan Sedili-Tenggaroh on April 6.
Just two weeks prior to the incident, a female tapir weighing about 300kg was killed in a similar fashion near Institut Latihan Perindustrian Mersing, along Jalan Mersing-Jemaluang.
He also said that from 2019 to 2020, there were 93 animals that died due to accidents, adding that these included elephants, monkeys, civet cats, tapirs, monitor lizards and hedgehogs.
