Wildlife experts in the state recently learned from a new article in the Global Ecology and Conservation journal that the numbers of the banteng have dwindled badly.

Benoit Goossens, director of research outfit Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), said the drop in banteng numbers was due to deforestation and human activity such as poaching.

“Poaching is widespread in all habitats containing bantengs, and the loss of any animal will quicken the time until they go extinct in the wild.

“There is now an urgency to control poaching to prevent the loss of this species,” said Goossens, who is also a Cardiff University professor.

He said the wild cattle of Borneo were targeted for meat consumption, and several banteng were shot every year in protected forests.

“In 2017, at least five banteng were shot. And last year, three banteng were killed in Paitan, in interior Sabah, in the space of one day,” he told FMT

They were often caught in snares, which result in potentially catastrophic injuries such as the loss of a limb, he said. Injuries resulting from snares had been documented during studies, he added.

“They can go extinct very fast if nothing is done. However, banteng are much easier to breed and captive breeding programmes combined with increase of enforcement could save the species.”

Penny Gardner, a post-doctoral fellow at DGFC, said banteng herds were increasingly fragmented by deforestation, infrastructure construction and other human activity, and this prevented their ability to move and maintain behaviour essential to their survival.

She said using individual recognition of animals from their natural marks such as scars, researchers from DGFC and Cardiff University had been able to build a series of photographic captures of multiple individuals over an extended period of time.

“This photographic recapture of history was used to estimate robust population density of this endangered wild cattle species in two forests, the Tabin Wildlife Reserve and Malua Forest Reserve.

“This is the first time that researchers have had sufficient quantities of data on this highly elusive species that have facilitated statistical analyses to estimate robust population density.

“The density of banteng in Malua and Tabin is exceptionally low, at 0.5 individuals per square 100km in Malua, and one individual per square 100km in Tabin,” said Gardner.

Goossens said that in the fight against poaching, DGFC had recently assisted the Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) in securing a grant from Sime Darby Foundation to increase the capacity of SFD’s anti-poaching Protect Unit.

“It should provide a fantastic boost to wildlife conservation and hopefully deter poachers in the state,”he said.

Meanwhile, Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said the Bornean Banteng Action Plan for Sabah, together with two other plans – to protect the proboscis monkey and the Sunda clouded leopard – were officially endorsed by the state Cabinet this year.

He added that DGFC was instrumental in providing critical scientific information on the banteng, a totally protected species (Schedule 1), and that the department was committed to implement the action plan.

“The number of wild banteng is less than 500. A captive breeding programme to boost the number of banteng is therefore of great importance.

“With the help of DGFC, the department will also set up an Endangered Species Conservation Unit that will monitor the implementation of all action plans on Schedule 1 terrestrial species.

“We need support in our mission to protect and conserve our wildlife in Sabah,” Tuuga said.