An endangered Malayan tapir has been injured by a snare set for wild boars in Tanintharyi region.
Workers from the Forest Department collected the female tapir on November 30 after its leg became caught in the trap near Maung Thaw village in Tanintharyi township.
“Her leg was hurt and she doesn’t look very healthy,” regional police chief Khin Kyaw told state media.
Scientists estimate there are as few as 3,000 Malayan tapir left in the wild. Distinct by its long, fleshy, prehensile nose and black and white colouration, the species today exists as a series of isolated populations in Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand.
The female tapir was about six-feet long and half-a-foot tall, according to Khin Kyaw, who added that the mammal would receive treatment on land run by the Forest Department and then be released back into the wild.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the main threat to Malayan tapirs is human activity such as snares, deforestation for agricultural purposes, flooding caused by the damming of rivers for hydroelectric projects, and illegal animal trade. The animal is a protected species under Myanmar law.
