The plaintiffs’ counsel, Rajesh Nagarajan, said the decision was reached this morning, with RM10,000 awarded to the defendant in costs.

“We’re still in the dark (about the ruling) as the High Court has not issued the grounds of judgment,” Rajesh told FMT.

Rajesh is representing wildlife rights NGO Hak Asasi Hidupan Liar Malaysia (Hidup), which, along with Nurul Azreen Sultan, a resident at Taman Raja Zainal where the culling allegedly occurred, sued three Perhilitan officials over the 2021 incident.

Apart from the Perhilitan officials, Hidup and Azreen also named the department’s director-general as well as the energy and natural resources minister as defendants.

The plaintiffs contend that the department’s role is to protect wildlife and that the endangered animals should not have been culled.

Perhilitan, they claimed, had violated Section 86 (1)(f) of the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010, which dealt with wilfully causing any unnecessary suffering, pain or discomfort to any wildlife.

Perhilitan had previously denied culling 20 monkeys, saying it had only killed seven monkeys which were aggressive and had frequently disturbed residents in the area.

It said its officials were forced to kill the monkeys after attempts to capture the animals were unsuccessful.