Video of tapir running free in Sepang housing area ‘a month old’ - Perhilitan

The video of a Malayan tapir running free in a housing area in Sepang, Selangor, which has been making its rounds on social media recently, was one month old.

According to Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) director-general Abdul Kadir Abu Hassan, department officers were unable to find the animal when they arrived the next day.

The video, he said, was captured in Desa Salak Permai and uploaded online in May.

“This video was uploaded on May 20. The owner is from Desa Salak Permai and (he said it was) recorded by his son. Perhilitan was there the next day and there was no sign of the animal within the vicinity,” he said when contacted by Malaysiakini.

In the 15-second video, which has been circulating online over the past few days, a large Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus) can be seen running down the street of a housing area at night, passing by parked cars and people’s front gates.

 The video ends with the animal disappearing down the street.

What has become of the animal is unclear but Abdul Kadir told Malaysiakini that the department is continuing to search for it.

The Malayan or Asian tapir, also known as tenuk in Bahasa Malaysia, is the largest of the tapir species - growing to lengths of 1.8m to 2.5m - and the only one found in Asia.

It is listed as endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List, the world’s most comprehensive inventory of threatened species. 

There are estimated to be fewer than 1,500 Malayan tapirs in Peninsular Malaysia and their numbers are reportedly continuing to decline.

It is listed as a totally protected species in the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 which covers Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan.

Largely nocturnal, it is easily distinguishable with its large black and white markings in adults while young possess brown hair with yellow or white stripes and light spots. 

The species comes under threat in Malaysia due to habitat loss from deforestation, forest fragmentation, hunting and road accidents. - Mkini