KUANTAN: For more than five years, Kamariah Abd Karim had always seen a young tapir wandering in the compound of her home in Kampung Batu 20 near here.
Although she never got close to or touched the tapir, the 56-year-old housewife had developed a bond with the wild animal which sometimes took shelter under her house.
Yesterday, she was horrified when several villagers told her that a dead tapir was found on the roadside of Jalan Kuantan-Pekan, about 500m from her home.
"I rushed to the scene and almost cried when I saw the lifeless tapir as I knew it was the one that always came to my home," she said.
Kamariah said the tapir could have been knocked down by a motorcyclist.
Another villager, Abu Suffian Husin, 43, said he came across the tapir several times before at his orchard in Kampung Air Hitam.
"I normally chased it away as I didn't want it to destroy the young fruit trees," he said.
State Wildlife and National Parks Department director Khairah Mohd Shariff said it was the second time that a tapir was knocked down along that stretch of road.
The first occurred early this year.
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