PETALING JAYA: A video shared by Tourism Selangor promoting the trapping of birds has ruffled the feathers of environmentalists who say it sends the wrong message. “The trapping of birds, licensed or otherwise, is an archaic activity which needs to be phased out, regardless of whether it is a business or social activity,” said Andrew Sebastian, chief executive of the Malaysian Ecotourism and Conservation Society. He said bird trapping removed vital wildlife from ecosystems an

A bird’s eye view of Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park, which is covered by green netting. —Photos: FAIHAN GHANI, SAMUEL ONG and YAP CHEE HONG/The Star IF KUALA Lumpur does not take immediate measures to conserve its butterfly population, it will most likely end up like Singapore which “lost” almost half of its butterflies. “We will go down the same road if we do not take good mitigation measures (to conserve), ” said Associate Prof Dr Norela Sulaiman from the Biological and Biotec

Local animals such as sun bears appear to be getting the short end of the stick when it comes to donations to the national zoo. Recent analysis of donations made to Zoo Negara via e-commerce platforms show that Malaysians are much more inclined to support imported animals over native species. Malaysians give more money for “exotic” imported animals like cheetahs and pandas than local ones like orangutans and sun bears. “It seems like the exotic animals people see in movies an