Businessman to be tried for keeping protected animals

JAKARTA (JP): A businessman will soon be tried for keeping 40 protected animals at his Puncak weekend resort villa in West Java.

The Forest Protection and Nature Conservation Agency director general, Soemarsono, said here yesterday that the businessman, whom he only identified as SK, was caught keeping the animals at his villa in Tugu Selatan, Puncak, last week.

He said the animals included nine Borneo orangutans (pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus), two siamang (hylobates syndactylus), a macaques (macaca hecki), a Java gibbon (hylobates moloch), four red birds of paradise (Paradisea rubra), a crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela palidus), 20 apoda birds of paradise and two blue birds of paradise.

"The businessman claimed that keeping the animals was his hobby but none of the pets has been registered with the Ministry of Forestry," Soemarsono said.

He said the dossier of SK's criminal act has been sent to the police who will process it and submit it to prosecutor's office, he added.

"If found guilty SK could be subject to five years imprisonment and a maximum Rp 100 million (US$43,500) fine," he said.

"The protected animals are being kept in his villa for material evidence during court hearings because the agency cannot take care of them due to a lack of facilities and personnel," he said.

Soemarsono said that his office had acted following a tip from SK's neighbors.

According to the law, anyone who wants to keep protected animals should register them with the ministry and follow certain rules. They must be capable of feeding them and taking care of them and their health, Soemarsono said.

The ministry was enforcing a regulation passed in 1991 which allowed the owners of protected animals to keep their animals provided they registered their pets with the ministry before 1993. Possession of a protected animal is now prohibited. (05)