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  Adult dugong 'may be Tenang's mum'
The Star 16 Mar 99 on Enchanted Forest

GELANG PATAH: A DNA test will be carried out on the adult female dugong found dead on Sunday to determine whether it was Tenang's mother, said Fisheries director-general Datuk Mohd Mazlan Jusoh.

"We believe that the dead female dugong is the mother of Tenang. A post-mortem will be conducted tomorrow to ascertain the cause of death and the DNA test to confirm whether she is Tenang's mother," said Mazlan.

"If Tenang had been released earlier by fisherman Atan Hussin, I believe the baby dugong could have had a chance of meeting its mother. She could have been searching for her lost baby."

Based on studies, the relationship between a mother dugong and its baby was very close, and they would separate only after the baby was three years old as it needed its mother's milk, he said.

He said the decision to release Tenang was based on advice from experts in aquatic and marine biology studies.

Atan found the baby dugong which he named Tenang entangled in his prawn net on Jan 25 and had cared for it for 42 days without knowing about a law that required it to be released immediately.

Tenang was released last Monday and was found dead two days later.

Dr Norlida Othman of the Johor Veterinary Services Department said it would take some time to determine whether the adult dugong was Tenang's mother. She estimated it to be more than ten years old. The length of the dugong from head to tail was 2.3m and it weighed more than 100kg.

Mazlan said the Fisheries Department planned to gazette Malaysian waters where the dugong may still exist as marine parks. State Environment and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman Dr Chua Soi Lek said that marine life experts should conduct a detailed and scientific study on dugongs in the sea off Kampung Pasir Puteh, near Pasir Gudang.

He said this was important as the state would not want to undertake a conservation project based only on the sighting of two dugongs. In Kuala Lumpur, World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia communications director Sabri Zain said that dugongs were not migratory mammals.

He said that gill nets (pukat pari) were a serious threat to the mammals.

Meanwhile, a website in tribute to Tenang has been set up by Sahabat Si Tenang (Friends of Tenang) in Shah Alam. The website, called Tenang's Pride, is http://www.kkev.net/tenang and the group invites people to share their thoughts on the tragedy. They can be contacted at tenang@kkev.net.
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