‘The tapir is a nocturnal animal. It was probably moving after mating or it was looking for food,” he told the Star Online when contacted.
“We can only hope that drivers are careful and alert where there are signboards and along places where there are forests,” he added.
He said there was an estimated population of over 1,000 tapirs in the country.
Abdul Kadir said that the population of the iconic Malaysian animal has dropped due to several factors, including the loss of their forest habitat.
The tapir is a fully protected species under the Wildlife Act 2010 (Act 716).
Based on Perhilitan's statistics, a total of 2,444 wildlife have been roadkill victims from 2012 to 2017.
Over the period, monitor lizards recorded the highest number of roadkills at 764, followed by civet cats (446), monkeys (439), wild boars (265), snakes (147) and wild cats (88).
Threatened wildlife species that have been victims of roadkill are tapirs (69), sun bears (6), elephants (4), mountain goats (2), panthers (2) and tiger (1).