Captive deer find home at local university
Captive deer find home at local university
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
Beautiful deer with branching horns and dotted or dark brown skin
are common in Indonesia and are easily found around the Bogor
presidential palace in West Java, the country's largest captive
breeding center for deer.
It was after witnessing the successful deer breeding project
in Bogor, rector of North Sumatra University (USU), Chairuddin P.
Lubis, became interested to set up a captive breeding project for
deer in his campus complex.
Then, when visiting Bogor in mid 1996, Lubis, an animal lover
himself, found the idea to raise deer at his university was
possible.
A month after his return from Bogor, the rector wrote to then
state secretary Moerdiono, asking for five deer from the Bogor
palace to start his breeding project at the campus. Moerdiono
agreed and dispatched the five dotted deers by air to the
university.
At first, Lubis did not get the response he expected from his
colleagues about the project. His colleagues thought the idea of
raising deer had little to do with education. They also feared
that the weather in North Sumatra was not suitable for the deer.
"We were really pessimistic then that the rector would be
successful in his captive breeding of deer," said Jhon Tafbu
Ritonga, the rector's third assistant.
But the response did not make Lubis changed his mind about the
plan.
After a few months, these dotted deers multiplied and he began
to enjoy a warm response not only from his colleagues but also
from business circles. Some successful businessmen in Medan like
Rahmat Shah, Anif Shah and Enteng S. contributed a deer each to
Lubis.
"We are really surprised to learn that deer can multiply here.
So, we support the rector's attempt to establish a deer captive
breeding center at USU," said Jhon Tafbu. He added the ministry
of forestry did not issue a permit for the deer captive breeding
project at USU until 1998.
After the issuance of this permit, the project site was moved
from the plot of land in front of postgraduate study building to
the one in front of the rector's administration office on Jl. Dr.
Mansur, Medan since the former site was too small for dozens of
deer.
"The new site measures three hectares and the deer can now
move more freely. Otherwise they will easily become stressful and
die of stress," Lubis said, adding that in the old site at least
three deers had died.
The rector said he had teamed up with vets from Medan zoo to
maintain and monitor the project.
Lubis said he was obsessed to raise deer and some other
animals at the university to make the center an object of
research for students and lecturers -- particularly from the
animal husbandry department of the university's School of
Agriculture; to make the center an object of creation for the
public and to stimulate the public's interest to love animals
through their captive breeding.
Today, there are 30 deer at USU captive breeding center, made
up of four species: dotted deer, sambar deer, Sumatran deer and
small antelopes. Many important people have inspected this
captive breeding center such as Anwar Nasution, senior deputy of
Bank Indonesia and T. Rizal Nurdin, North Sumatra governor.
"In fact we have bred a lot of deer in captivity but some of
them have been given to our guests. The governor, for example,
has asked for some to be raised in front of his official
residence," said Lubis.
The captive breeding site also has some other animals like
cassowaries, birds of paradise, rora and parakeets. Then it also
has four Ottawan goats, an Australian cow, three mouse deer,
iguanas and wild goats.
"Most of these animals are gifts from my friends. They trust
that we can look after the animals," he added.
According to Lubis, the university has never spent even a
rupiah for raising these animals. "We have some donors. They
voluntarily donate money to us," he said, adding that just for
their feed, between Rp 1 million and Rp 1.5 million is needed
every month.
Guci Mardiyan, one of the caretakers of these animals, said
they had never found trouble feeding these deer and other
animals, which mostly eat vegetables and fruits like mangoes.
"Some people deliver vegetables and fruits for them
regularly," said Guci, who has worked at the center for 1.5
years.
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
Beautiful deer with branching horns and dotted or dark brown skin
are common in Indonesia and are easily found around the Bogor
presidential palace in West Java, the country's largest captive
breeding center for deer.
It was after witnessing the successful deer breeding project
in Bogor, rector of North Sumatra University (USU), Chairuddin P.
Lubis, became interested to set up a captive breeding project for
deer in his campus complex.
Then, when visiting Bogor in mid 1996, Lubis, an animal lover
himself, found the idea to raise deer at his university was
possible.
A month after his return from Bogor, the rector wrote to then
state secretary Moerdiono, asking for five deer from the Bogor
palace to start his breeding project at the campus. Moerdiono
agreed and dispatched the five dotted deers by air to the
university.
At first, Lubis did not get the response he expected from his
colleagues about the project. His colleagues thought the idea of
raising deer had little to do with education. They also feared
that the weather in North Sumatra was not suitable for the deer.
"We were really pessimistic then that the rector would be
successful in his captive breeding of deer," said Jhon Tafbu
Ritonga, the rector's third assistant.
But the response did not make Lubis changed his mind about the
plan.
After a few months, these dotted deers multiplied and he began
to enjoy a warm response not only from his colleagues but also
from business circles. Some successful businessmen in Medan like
Rahmat Shah, Anif Shah and Enteng S. contributed a deer each to
Lubis.
"We are really surprised to learn that deer can multiply here.
So, we support the rector's attempt to establish a deer captive
breeding center at USU," said Jhon Tafbu. He added the ministry
of forestry did not issue a permit for the deer captive breeding
project at USU until 1998.
After the issuance of this permit, the project site was moved
from the plot of land in front of postgraduate study building to
the one in front of the rector's administration office on Jl. Dr.
Mansur, Medan since the former site was too small for dozens of
deer.
"The new site measures three hectares and the deer can now
move more freely. Otherwise they will easily become stressful and
die of stress," Lubis said, adding that in the old site at least
three deers had died.
The rector said he had teamed up with vets from Medan zoo to
maintain and monitor the project.
Lubis said he was obsessed to raise deer and some other
animals at the university to make the center an object of
research for students and lecturers -- particularly from the
animal husbandry department of the university's School of
Agriculture; to make the center an object of creation for the
public and to stimulate the public's interest to love animals
through their captive breeding.
Today, there are 30 deer at USU captive breeding center, made
up of four species: dotted deer, sambar deer, Sumatran deer and
small antelopes. Many important people have inspected this
captive breeding center such as Anwar Nasution, senior deputy of
Bank Indonesia and T. Rizal Nurdin, North Sumatra governor.
"In fact we have bred a lot of deer in captivity but some of
them have been given to our guests. The governor, for example,
has asked for some to be raised in front of his official
residence," said Lubis.
The captive breeding site also has some other animals like
cassowaries, birds of paradise, rora and parakeets. Then it also
has four Ottawan goats, an Australian cow, three mouse deer,
iguanas and wild goats.
"Most of these animals are gifts from my friends. They trust
that we can look after the animals," he added.
According to Lubis, the university has never spent even a
rupiah for raising these animals. "We have some donors. They
voluntarily donate money to us," he said, adding that just for
their feed, between Rp 1 million and Rp 1.5 million is needed
every month.
Guci Mardiyan, one of the caretakers of these animals, said
they had never found trouble feeding these deer and other
animals, which mostly eat vegetables and fruits like mangoes.
"Some people deliver vegetables and fruits for them
regularly," said Guci, who has worked at the center for 1.5
years.