Urban Orchard Caretaker Pleads For People To Stop Killing The Animals In His Safe Haven
"The river belongs to the government but the ecosystem belongs to all citizens," he said.
By May Vin Ang — 22 Sep 2023, 04:03 PM
The caretaker of Urban Orchard KL has made a heart-wrenching plea for people to stop killing the wildlife he has lovingly nurtured in the heart of TTDI, Kuala Lumpur
Urban Orchard KL, filled with fruit trees and clean water, is the work of one man — Yen Maseri Hj Idris, known fondly as Uncle Yen — who started it as a way of coping after his son died.
He started the passion project over seven years ago, rehabilitating a small stretch of land adjacent to the Bukit Kiara Muslim Cemetery, which used to be a mosquito breeding ground.
Despite it being public land, Uncle Yen cleaned up the area and planted a collection of trees, prompting fish, birds, monitor lizards, tortoises, and otters to seek refuge at the small stretch of river
However, in a few recent posts on Instagram, Uncle Yen claimed that some irresponsible individuals have been damaging the environment he has so painstakingly nurtured, slowly causing the animals to disappear.
On 13 September, he was devastated to find one of the monitor lizards he often feeds had died.
Uncle Yen believes the creature, who he had named Mr Brown, was killed by being badly injured with a blunt object.
He showed that the culprits had also tried to catch some fish and threw them onto the ground to die, as well as chopped down some palm trees that he had planted.
Meanwhile, in his latest video, Uncle Yen could be heard desperately confronting people to stop taking the fish in the stream
However, as he begged in the video, the men — whom he called "jala (net) people", as they often came with nets to catch the fish — carried on fishing.
In the caption of the post, Uncle Yen said he has reported the incident to the police, but was told they could not take action, as the land did not belong to him.
"I don't own the river, neither do the 'jala people', but I take care of the ecosystem and feed the fish every day... Don't I deserve some credit for that?" Uncle Yen wrote.
"The river belongs to the government but the ecosystem belongs to all citizens," he added.
The Urban Orchard KL caretaker hopes that the public can help by starting a petition and getting the authorities to grant a court order to stop people from further pillaging the environment
"May our efforts in preserving and enhancing the river ecosystem continue to thrive for the benefit of all Malaysians and future generations," he said.
Netizens have also since taken to the comments section to express their support for Uncle Yen, as well as voice their concern over the fishing men.
