Breeding of rare birds encouraged

BOGOR, West Java: At a seminar held at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, experts urged the government to promote incentives for rare bird breeding and to heavily tax anyone capturing birds from the wild.

"The government should provide facilities, such as tax shelters for exporters who breed their birds," said Professor Rubini Atmawidjaja here yesterday.

He said high taxes should also be levied against those capturing wild birds to encourage the breeding of birds in captivity.

He said several rare Indonesian birds have already been successfully bred in captivity, including the cockatoo, peacock, starling and turtledove. (24)