KOTANABALU, March 13, 2023 – Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) have been given RM3.8 million by Yayasan Sime Darby (YSD) to establish the Rapid Response Teams (RRT).

RRT is a group of rangers being trained to be more efficient in decreasing wildlife crimes in Sabah. This assistance has also made it possible for the project to receive an extra RM250,000 in matching funding from the Ministry of Finance.

As part of the sponsorship agreement that started last year, DGFC and SWD established three RRTs with a total of 16 rangers and one commander who were recruited from districts throughout Sabah, including Semporna, Ranau, Lahad Datu, Kinabatangan, and Tenom. They had received training in real-time alarm response, performing ad hoc tasks, and assisting with case creation.

The Sabah State Action Plan’s objectives for the conservation of the Bornean banteng, Sunda clouded leopard, proboscis monkey, and Bornean elephant, among others, are to be met by these initiatives.

“For the past 3 years, DGFC has been committed to the implementation of the State Action Plans that were launched in 2019 and 2020 by the State Government.

“We started in 2020 with the creation of an Intelligence Unit and a Forensic Unit for the SWD, funded by the US Department of State. Now, the idea of the RRT is to increase the capacity and effectiveness of SWD in rapidly responding to wildlife poaching, trafficking and illegal wildlife trade in Sabah,” said Professor Benoit Goossens, Director of DGFC.

“The emphasis will be on tackling online-related modus operandi and in protecting key areas in Sabah such as the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary and Tabin Wildlife Reserve.

“The responses will be primarily dictated by the crime analytical products developed by the SWD’s Intelligence Unit and by other monitoring systems,” Goossens said in a statement.

The Sabah State Action Plan’s objectives for the conservation of the Bornean banteng, Sunda clouded leopard, proboscis monkey, and Bornean elephant, among others, are to be met by these initiatives.

A 2-day intensive selection training for 39 Sabahans was held in Ranau after the hiring of a commander and an assistant commander in August of last year, according to Augustine Tuuga, Director of SWD.

Nineteen people were chosen to participate in a 3-month intense training programme at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, which comprised a number of modules on Honorary Wildlife Warden, first aid and forest rescue, tree climbing, self-defence/combative fight, and counter-poaching operations.

Fifteen rangers were hired by SWD following the rigorous training, which came to an end in mid-November 2022. Of these, 12 began patrolling the area around Tabin Wildlife Reserve and 3 were based there.

“It is my hope that those 17 rangers will become civil servants at the end of this 3-year programme, and will be permanently incorporated within my department,” concluded Tuuga.