"Thank you everyone for the kind donation! We appreciate every effort you guys made for our nature! Normally people would question us why do we pay such attention to wildlife, i will always tell them - because we all are linked, into a healthy relationship co-existing together in the world."
- Joleen, Founder of Langur Project Penang
2017 was a challenging year for wildlife. Dealing with habitat loss and fragmentation, roads have definitely caused harmful consequences to the wildlife. From Malayan tapirs, elephants, sun bears, to monitor lizards, leopard cats, more rodents, primates, amphibians, and reptiles, these threatened and protected wildlife failed to cross the road and unfortunately passed away. No doubt that enforcement, education and a better infrastructure plan is needed, in order to stop roadkill from taking away the lives of our precious wildlife.
To those that who have been following us for research updates, LPP is initiating the first road ecology study targeting arboreal wildlife in Penang, starting with a pilot project in Teluk Bahang. This project is a community-based citizen science programme where our local researchers/field assistants (lead by LPP founder Joleen), collect data on arboreal wildlife, identify potential wildlife crossing hotspots and work alongside local authority to establish canopy bridges, speed bumpers, wildlife crossing signage to mitigate the impact of roads/habitat fragmentation toward wildlife.
We successfully identified 3 crossing hotspots at our Teluk Bahang study site for the bridge construction. Since this will be one of the first road ecology projects for arboreal wildlife, we were making sure that our data are reliable to highlight the accurate crossing hotspots for the dusky langurs, black giant squirrels, long-tailed macaques, Sunda colugo and more. We collected long-term data on the species crossing behavior, GPS coordinates and the purposes of crossing. The permit application was also tedious at the beginning of the project, where we took some time to seek for the right protocol to realize the canopy bridge construction, which the design involves roads, trees, and community safety.
Up to date (January 2018), we are happy to inform that we successfully obtain the support and research permit from Jabatan PERHILITAN Semenanjung Malaysia- The Wildlife Departments and National Parks (PERHILITAN), gathered support letters from various NGOs and authorities, and most importantly, proudly working alongside APE Malaysia for the bridge design and construction. The next step is to apply for the bridge construction permit from Kementerian Kerja Raya Malaysia (KKR) and The Malaysian Public Works Department (JKR). We keep our fingers crossed!
Dear readers, please do your part as always - remind your friends and family to drive safely along wildlife hotspot areas, especially the roads next to the potential on-going hillside development area, water resources or secondary forest. Keep email or message us on your wildlife sighting by the road, we appreciate all the data that you guys providing us so far!
To those that willing to assist us for the bridge construction in near future, kindly PM us for your contact. Other than that, we hope that you guys will LIKE and SHARE this our Mystartr and facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pg/LangurProjectPenang/) to support our initiative!
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2017年份是对野生动物来说是个充满挑战的一年。大自然栖息地被破坏而造成分裂，导致很多动物移动的困扰。不少的野生动物，比如大象，马来貘，马来熊，其他哺乳动物，爬行类和两栖类动物们都逃不过路杀的命运。无可否认，我们需要更好的建筑制度，强制和教育来帮助抵抗路杀的问题。要不然的话，事情将会越来越严重而造成对野生动物更多的威胁。
对于有跟进我们LPP的消息的朋友，应该有了解到我们LPP正在成立着槟城第一项树冠野生动物的道路生态学， 研究马路对眼镜食叶猴和其他树栖野生动物的行动所造成的影响。我们将在直落巴巷进行第一项道路生态学。这是一项公民科学计划，我们的义工考察员们大多是本地槟城公民，一起合理帮助LPP的主研究员，Joleen 收集动物生态资料，确认监督眼镜食叶猴在城市化栖息地的生态行为以及判断出野生动物过马路移动的热门地点。我们希望以树冠桥梁，高速保险杠和野生动物移动标牌来帮助减轻马路对野生动物的影响。
我们成功确定了在直落巴巷的三个野生动物移动的热门地点。因为这是第一项不简单的野生动物计划，我们花了长时间来确认移动的热门地点，以免判断错误。我们长时间观察眼镜叶猴，大黑松鼠，长尾猕猴，和懒猴的移动出没地点，观察他们的生态行为， 了解他们过马路的原因。一开始办着此计划的执照可不简单，我们花了一段时间来确认对的协议，以防造成以后的马路安全和误解问题。这是一想新的野生动物计划，所以很多部门和专家也对协议方面有点伤脑筋。
最终的今天（2018年一月），我们成功地获得了马来西亚野生部门（PERHILITAN)的研究执照了！此外，我们也成功地取得本地不同地非政府组织和机构地支援，为我们地计划写了支持信呢！最重要的是，我们很荣幸地可以和APE Malaysia合作此计划的树冠桥梁设计和建筑方面。现在我们只需要向马来西亚公共工作部门(KKR & JKR)申请同意来利用马路来进行此计划。我们希望很快的就可以开始建筑树冠桥梁的第一步！
朋友们，记得要安全驾驶，尤其是驾驶在山边的马路，发展边缘的马路，海或河旁的马路。这些都是野生动物可出没的地点。请大家继续提供我们路杀和野生动物和马路的相关资料，我们非常感激这些非常有用的数据！
如果您有兴趣帮助我们即将开始的树冠桥梁建筑过程，请留下信息 (https://www.facebook.com/pg/LangurProjectPenang/) 以便我们联络。最后，我们希望大家可以向群众广传此讯息，希望槟城人民能够与我们协力，让大家都能更了解槟州这珍贵的眼镜猴的生活与困境，也让我们全民和下一代都能知道以及看见这美丽的物种和完整的自然生态。
Photo: LPP founder and head researcher, Joleen and field assistant, Yan Qian, monitoring the crossing behaviour of a troop of langurs. Photo credit to LPP field assistant Teo.
照片：LPP创办人Joleen和野外助理，Yan Qian, 在观察着一家庭眼镜食叶猴的移动行为。照片来源于野外助理，Teo.
