Ex-intelligence officer, zoo manager 'steal' birds

SURABAYA (JP): A zoo manager and a former intelligence officer have been named as suspects by police for stealing and illegally breeding endangered Bali starlings taken from Surabaya Zoo, police said.

Lt. Col. (ret.) Kamilo Kalim, a former local Brawijaya military command intelligence chief, is suspected of stealing four of the six Bali starlings reported missing on Sept. 9, in collaboration with Bambang Suhardjito, the acting manager of Surabaya Zoo.

South Surabaya police precinct Adj. Sr. Comr. Wahyu Indra Pramugari said that Kalim would be charged with stealing the birds and illegally breeding them. None of the suspects has been detained.

Kalim is chairman of Surabaya Zoo Presidium. Surabaya city government took over the zoo's ownership from ex-government and military officials in August.

The Bali starling is an endangered species. In its natural habitat in West Bali, there are only about 13 left. The market price of a starling is about Rp 10 million.

Wahyu said the police seized the four birds from Kalim's residence last week, following the zoo's report that six starlings had disappeared from their cages.

Under Law No. 5/1990, Kalim could be subject to five year's imprisonment and a Rp 100 million fine.

In his defense, Kalim said the police were wrong in accusing him of stealing the birds. He claimed he had bred the birds from Oct. 9, 1999 with permission from Surabaya Zoo's then manager Stanny Soebakir, who is also under investigation.

Kalim said that Stanny had permitted him to breed the birds in Malang, where Kalim lived, but he then moved to Surabaya after the project failed.

"I have always reported every development in the breeding to the zoo. So it's untrue that I stole the birds," Kalim said.

A number of suspicious deaths of animals in the zoo have been reported since Stanny resigned in August, 2001, including a Bengal tiger, a Sumatran tiger, a lion, a komodo dragon and an elephant.

Speculation is rife that the animals were poisoned by old zoo officials who were unhappy about their dismissal, but police said they had yet to investigate the cases. (nur)