Bird lovers in a flap over new homes
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)