Bird lovers in a flap over new homes

JONGGOL, Bogor (JP): The Jakarta Bird Lovers Association, in cooperation with tycoon Ciputra, plans to set up enormous cages for rare birds in the capital.

Association executive Anton Saksono said that the cages, covering between one and two hectares each, would include fruit trees and water sources to provide a more natural environment for the birds to live and breed.

"The site for the cages would be provided by Mr. Ciputra, who will also arrange the operational management," Anton told The Jakarta Post here Sunday.

Anton, however, could not disclose the cages' location or when the project would start.

Ciputra, one of the country's leading property developers, is better known as a painting collector than a bird lover.

Bird lovers gathered at CitraIndah housing complex -- one of Ciputra's projects -- here over the weekend and acclaimed Sutiyoso, Jakarta's governor designate, as chairman of the Jakarta Bird Lovers Association.

The association is a group of five bird clubs, including the Indonesian Bekisar Cock Lovers Club, the Langlang Buana Carrier Pigeon Club and the Small Turtledoves Protectors Club.

Anton said the Jakarta Bird Lovers Association was looking to promote the captive breeding of rare birds among its 5,000 members.

In his speech, Sutiyoso deplored the poor awareness of both traders and collectors, saying it had driven some species to extinction.

Many people were still catching rare birds in large numbers without considering the possibility that it could harm the species' long-term survival chances, he said.

"They catch the rare birds and then sell them to rich people who put the animals in beautifully designed cages where they slowly die on account of improper handling," the former Jakarta military commander said.

The two-star general asked such bird owners to free their caged pets.

"However I understand that releasing the birds is not always the best option to save the birds because Jakarta still lacks fruit trees which are badly needed by the birds for homes and food resources," he said.

Authority

Anton said the disappearance of certain species of birds was the result of insufficient government support, particularly from the Ministry of Forestry's Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation.

They should act further than just making regulations which prohibit the selling and transporting of rare species and require owners to register their rare pets, he said.

"Officials should routinely check the condition of the captive animals whether or not the lovers have treated the pets properly.

"And the authority should be able to intervene for the sake of the animals, like for instance, take the animals away if the collectors handle the pets carelessly."

The survival of hundreds of the 2,500 species native to Indonesia is threatened.

They include the yellow-crowned bulbul (Pycnotus zeytanicus), the Bali Starling (Leucopsar rothchild) and the bird of paradise (Paradia apodea).

Anton said collectors' poor awareness might be caused by their improper motivation.

"For many people, keeping rare species at home is just for prestige. They just want to show other people that they are rich enough to buy expensive pets or simply to follow the trend of the haves."

He called on bird lovers to help realize the association's plan to build the huge cages as captive breeding places for the birds.

"It's only way to protect the rare birds from extinction.

"We can't just release the birds as it will only harm them because they have already lost their natural ability to survive. And it's also impossible to stop people from buying and keeping rare birds.

"The best that we can do for now is to encourage bird lovers to join the breeding program instead of just keeping the birds in captivating."

Breeding the birds was easy and would not cost much, he said.

"The only password is dedication. If we really love the birds, we'll of course do our best to breed them so that there will still be birds everywhere." (cst)