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.