Bogor bear

I was pleased to see the photo of the captive sun bear at Jl. Pajajaran No. 6, Bogor, in The Jakarta Post. I have regularly observed this particular bear since I first noticed it close to our home in Bogor last year. The animal's cage is located near a busy road, clearly unsuitable conditions for a captive animal. This is not just my personal opinion, but is shared by other residents as I have often heard them saying in my homeward-bound angkot. There is an urgent need to expose such cases, hence my contentment when I saw your photo.

Apparently, the owner has a permit for keeping this bear. But the contents of SK Dir Jen PHPA 301/1991 that deals with the legalities of this permit, emphasizes the need for proper methods of captivity.

In November 1996, I wrote a letter to the head of the Agency for the Conservation of Natural Resources in Bandung and included a copy to the Director of Protected Areas and Conservation of Flora and Fauna of the Directorate General of Nature Conservation. In the letter, I said the Bogor bear was probably not kept under appropriate conditions, and I asked them whether they could investigate the case. Six months later I didn't receive an answer, and the bear's conditions were still the same.

Since 1995, I have investigated many similar cases of sun bears in captivity, and I have grown to realize that these are not just cases of poor law enforcement. All the zoos in Indonesia are filled beyond capacity with sun bears. Medan Zoo, for instance, presently keeps 17 bears. This zoo is offered on average one bear each month, but the zoo managers can no longer accept them. Rumors say that it is now possible to eat bear paws and bear meat in one of Medan's top restaurants. Bear gallbladders are for sale in Medan, but also in many other areas in Indonesia.

Before efficient law enforcement becomes possible, bear holding facilities and the essential know-how of releasing bears into the wild needs to be established. The Wanariset orangutan re-introduction project, for whom I work, is now taking the first steps toward facilitating bear releases. The project is studying re-introduced sun bears equipped with radio collars, and thus we learn about basic ecology and survival rates.

Hopefully, the Bogor bear will soon be moved to a better location, or possibly, via a release program, back into the forest.

ERIK MEIJAARD

Bogor, West Java