Crocodiles go hungry due to shortage of tourists
Crocodiles go hungry due to shortage of tourists
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
Passing down an iron-fenced corridor, Jemari pushes a wheeled
cart full of raw chicken meat. Reaching a safe spot, he pours out
the meat into a large pool and watches the water churn as
hundreds of crocodiles fight over their lunch.
As more of the lizards swim to the spot, the battle in the
water becomes more frenzied. But while local tourists laugh and
clap their hands, Jemari shakes his head.
What Jemari knows that the visitors don't is that the Asam
Kumbang Crocodile Breeding Farm in Medan cannot afford enough
meat for the beasts. While he tries to distribute the food as
evenly as he can, it is not enough and the normal skirmishing
between the animals is becoming intense and more frequently
fatal.
"We can only provide one ton of chicken meat a day for the
crocodiles. It is far from enough as ideally; we should provide
them with three tons a day for the thousands of crocodiles being
bred here," said Jemari, who has been working at the center for
15 years.
Farm owner Lo Tham Muk, said feeding the crocodiles had been
his main concern since establishing his business in the late
1950s.
"They have bred rapidly. I started with 12 crocodiles in 1959
and now the numbers are in the thousands," Lo said.
Initially breeding the beasts as a hobby and then for profit,
a government ban on the sale of the animals means he now relies
completely on tourism.
"I get the money only from the entrance tickets. Adults are
charged Rp 4,000 and children are Rp 3,000," Lo said.
Lo spends more than Rp 500,000 (US$52) a day for one ton of
chicken meat. Weekdays are generally slow for the farm, with only
a handful of visitors, and while he had hundreds in the weekends,
including a number of overseas tourists, he says the money does
not cover his costs.
Travel warnings and terrorist attacks in Indonesia have not
helped his business, which has been listed by local government as
an official Medan tourist site since 1982. Many of the foreign
tourists he now gets come from southeast Asia -- Malaysia,
Singapore and Thailand.
Crocodiles are big breeders and with an estimated 2,700
animals -- the eldest a six-meter 47-year-old -- Lo says he now
has to destroy at least 5,000 crocodile eggs a year.
The 79-year-old said the farm needed government and investor
support to maintain and develop it as a tourist attraction.
"I hope that donors, including the government, could
contribute some money so that it can help us run the farm."