Does a durian tree have porcine DNA?

600 Musang King trees found planted illegally in Raub

The Raub forestry department said the illegal cultivation was detected on Nov 26 when its officers were patrolling the area. (Forest police Facebook pic)

Why was/is there a need for rangers to be armed with semi-automatics?

PETALING JAYA: A total of 600 Musang King durian trees that were planted illegally in the Teras Forest Reserve in Raub, Pahang, were destroyed by the district forestry department today.

The enforcement officers found that the illegal cultivation on four hectares of land had been going on unnoticed for the last two years.

Raub forestry chief Shahril Mohamad said the operation involved a team of 25 staff who were assisted by the local police.

He said they discovered the illegal activity area after conducting patrols and checks on Nov 26, adding investigations found that the illegal cultivation was carried out by a local individual who had employed several foreign workers.

“Musang King durian trees that were between one and two years old were cut down using machetes and chainsaws.

“The value of the trees destroyed is estimated at more than RM30,000,” he was quoted as saying in a Berita Harian report.

Shahril said his officers had conducted six operations to combat illegal activities in forest reserves this year.

He said their action on illegal cultivation in the Batu Talam forest reserve in July was their largest action to date, adding that they destroyed 15,000 Musang King durian trees over 101ha of land which was also a gazetted catchment area.

“We will continue with our action next year to ensure that illegal encroachment on forest reserves will not occur. We will be planting 1,500 trees of various types in the area starting tomorrow,” he said.

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kt comments:

If the durian trees were illegally planted in the Teras Forest Reserve in Raub, Pahang, that would mean the land would be state government forest reserve.

My question is: If the land is a forest reserve, why destroy/cut down those 15,000 trees - whether durian or otherwise - and THEN plant other trees in place, for the desired green growth to start anew again?

Wouldn't leaving those 15,000 trees in place to continue growing contribute immensely to the forest? Grown trees provide shade and maintain moderate temperature for the environment, hold the soil and prevent same from being washed away during heavy rain, water uptake, provide shelters for forest denizens, etc etc etc?

Or, was the slashing down of those trees a deliberate act of retribution to show the public the district forestry department is working?

I am utterly confused, more so as I know those durian trees are not noxious weed nor with invasive destructive roots, and can fit easily into the forest growth. For hundreds if not thousands of years, in the Malaysian jungle there were/still are native durian trees, which BTW, attract tigers and other animals during the fruiting seasons. Pak Belang loves durians.

Hasn't the mutilation of those durian trees been mindlessly wasteful, more so when younger plants have been used to replace their places in the forest reserve?

Maybe there could be something about the durian trees that I am not aware of, eg. those trees might have porcine DNA?