Great hornbill murdered in Malaysia

Five Malaysian army personnel (one of them an officer) were suspended for allegedly slaughtering a Great Hornbill, which they posed with and subsequently posted on Facebook. Unwittingly this pictures got circulated by people disgusted by their actions. ( I am glad that citizen action this time around was for the better).

Although not proven guilty yet, i shall try not to pass judgement on them, but their actions of posing and smiling while holding to the poor bird still left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth.

This soldiers attached to the Belum-Temengor Forest Reserve were meant to protect the borders from encroachment and the endangered wildlife. Belum-Temengor houses the most number of species of hornbills (10 species in total), more than anywhere in the world, with most of this species either threatened or endangered.

Even if they were not the ones who did not hunted down the hornbill, they should have known better to give it a dignifed death if it could not be treated or saved. Posing with it gives a perception that it was a trophy showcase.

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sources: (last visited 6 April 2011)
Five army personnel suspended for slaughtering hornbill, The Star Online, 3 April 2011
Malaysia to charge soldiers over hornbill killing, Jakarta Globe, 4 April 2011

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