Bogor bear

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