Animals rescued from private home

Animals rescued from private home

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The orangutan gripped the bars of its cage on the back of a
truck, having just been rescued from four years inside a cage at
a house in Jatipadang, South Jakarta.

Some time last year, a neighbor said, the orangutan, estimated
to be five years old, enjoyed a brief taste of freedom when it
managed to escape its cage.

"The orangutan squatted on my roof for a while. But then its
caretakers caught it and took it back to its cage," said Dian,
the neighbor.

When officers from the Jakarta Police and the Ministry of
Forestry, as well as environment activists from ProFauna, raided
the house on Thursday at about 10 p.m., the orangutan was found
chained to its cage by its neck.

"The chain was wound around its neck," said Hardi Baktiantoro,
ProFauna coordinator. "The orangutan showed signs of stress,
acting exactly like a distressed human being."

The orangutan, whose gender was not given, was owned by a Navy
officer, who is also a dentist. Neighbors identified the owner as
Capt. Andi Sisyanto, who has a dental clinic in Pasar Minggu,
South Jakarta.

Besides the orangutan, Andi also allegedly kept several other
protected animals: two Papuan birds-of-paradise, three deer, one
palm cockatoo, three Tanimbar corellas, three Salmon-crested
cockatoos, five purple-crowned lorikeets and one sulphur-crested
cockatoo.

Under Law No. 5/1990, trapping, keeping or trading protected
animals carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison or a Rp
100 million (US$11,764) fine.

"Since he (Capt. Andi) is an active military officer, we will
turn over his case to the Military Police," the city police's
resource and environmental division chief, Adj. Sr. Comr. Ahmad
Haydar, said on Friday.

"Andi also has seven peacocks. But he argued that the peacocks
were imported from India, so were not protected by Law. No.
5/1990 on the conservation of natural resources and the
ecosystem.

"Therefore, the police and forestry officials did not seize
(the peacocks)," Hardi said, adding that the police would check
whether the birds were imported legally or illegally.

Many affluent city residents keep wild animals in their homes,
a practice that has not stopped despite increased raids by the
police.

All of the protected animals seized from Andi's house were
brought to the Ministry of Forestry's Animal Transit Center in
Tegal Alur, West Jakarta.

"They will spend between two and four weeks at the center
before they are sent to animal rehabilitation centers," Hardi
said. "The orangutan will go to a center in Kalimantan while the
other animals will probably be sent to a center in Malang, East
Java."

At the rehabilitation centers, the animals will be taught how
to survive in the wild.

Within a month, the orangutan is expected to be back in the
forest, without a chain around its neck.