Doves to bring 'European feel' to Monas

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Yulianto, 30, (photo left) a bird keeper at the National Monument (Monas) Park in Central Jakarta, was stressed out on Sunday as many of the around 800 doves he had been entrusted with looking after had taken ill, apparently due to the city's hot and humid weather.

"The extremely hot weather and the recent rain here has had a bad impact on the doves. Many of them have come down with flu or fever. As a result, we've had to separate the sick birds from the healthy ones," he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

"The sick birds need extra care as the illness could spread and quickly kill them all," he added.

Around 800 doves have been gradually released in Monas Park over the past six months ago, the latest ones six days ago, in an apparent attempt to give a "European feel" to the park.

By introducing the doves, Governor Sutiyoso says he wants to copy city parks in Europe.

"I want birds chirping at the monument as this sort of thing is a common sight in big cities in Europe, like Paris or London," Sutiyoso said earlier.

In mid-2003, Sutiyoso released spotted deer in the park, whose numbers have steadily increased since then.

The doves were purchased in several locations in Central Java where they are bred, including Muntilan, Pekalongan and Yogyakarta, for Rp 30,000 (US$3.20) a pair.

While the climate in the places where they are bred is little different from that in Jakarta, the city is the third most polluted metropolis in the world.

Yulianto said they had originally planned to establish a colony of white doves in the park.

"But we changed the plan to breed white colored doves and decided to go for ordinary ones as it would be too risky to have the white ones," he said.

A pair of white doves costs Rp 50,000 each -- more expensive than the colored ones.

Yulianto complained that he and his fellow keeper had not only to ensure that the some 800 doves were healthy, but also had to keep them out of the clutches of hungry Jakartans.

"People with a taste for birds are the most serious threat to the doves. Recently, I spotted a couple of salivating residents busy chasing after the doves instead of feeding them," he sighed.

Both Yulianto and his colleague cannot count on public order officers to help keep the doves out of harms way as the officers are only posted at the park entrance, parking lot and around the park's perimeter.

"This job is very demanding. We can't take the risk of losing even a single bird," he said, adding that they had no choice but to live in a tent erected near the doves' coop, leaving them completely at the mercy of the heat, rain and mosquitoes.

The doves' nesting boxes are located on the west side of the park adjacent to the almost-finished "dancing" fountain, being erected at a cost of Rp 26 billion, which will be officiated on July 23.