Feast, not famine, for Ragunan Zoo residents in the crisis
By Juliane Gunardono
JAKARTA (JP): Going to the zoo during the economic crisis might be the time to play out that hidden thrill of coming face- to-face with a hungry tiger, who is safely behind bars.
Both you and the big cat may be doing your own mental measurements.
You may be wondering if you are the plumpest, tastiest and healthiest of the trail of humans to pass the feline's way.
He or she, in turn, could well be considering how to break down a bar to get a sumptuous lunch after a long period of fasting.
After all, last June the carnivores at Ragunan Zoo were already fasting twice a week and, with the crisis continuing, it could be up to four or five days a week by now.
Today, you would not find a pride of emaciated cats, but fat tigers, lions and leopards, lazing in the shade of trees, not even giving the public a second glance.
In a time when people have to work hard or even beg to get enough money to fill their stomachs once a day, the carnivores, as well the other animals at the Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta, are just as fat and healthy as they used to be, though changes in their diet have been made.
Instead of beef, they get chicken or boar meat now, but the changes have not affected their health or spirits, except for a day or two of diarrhea which can easily be taken care of by one of the veterinarians.
"We are lucky in many respects," explains Sutarman, head of the zoo's animal clinic. "First, the governor loves animals, so the budget for the animal's food has not been lowered like the budget for building new cages. Second, a lot of rich people in Jakarta love animals, too."
When the food became extremely expensive, the animals had to fast on Wednesday and Friday, but this lasted only for a week. A cry of "The poor animals!" went out among wealthy citizens of Jakarta, most of them expatriates.
The Friends of the Zoo organization quickly collected money and searched for a cheap meat vendor to buy the missing food for the two fasting days, about 250 kilograms of meat a day. And they will go on until the crisis is over.
"You can check the animals," Sutarman said. "Some of them have even become too fat, and I have to conduct some 'family planning' for the animals because they are having too many offspring."
Indeed, there are 50 little komodo dragons at Ragunan at the moment, all of them needing meat for their diets.
Friends of the Zoo also helps out if money is short for the food for other animals. Hay and some fruit trees are grown in the zoo area, though they are often eaten by visitors.
"For the fruits and vegetables which we buy, we have lowered the quality, but just a little," explained Sutarman. "For example, we don't buy the tastiest bananas for the birds anymore, but the cheapest. But all of them still get their vitamins and their minerals just like before the crisis."
In another cost-cutting measure, cheaper food sources have been tried out to see if the animals can get used to them.
An eagle was not impressed by the offering of cheap fish. He took it briefly, dropped it but never tasted the morsel. He is now back to meat like before.
As it receives aid from Friends of the Zoo, the zoo management has not had to raise the entrance fee of only Rp 1,100. This is important, as many people can no longer afford to visit other recreation spots in Jakarta like Ancol or Taman Mini.
Visitor numbers have dipped only slightly during the economic crisis, said Abdullah Baab, head of the funds and visitors section. From April 1997 to March 1998, about 2.5 million people visited Ragunan; up to December 1998 there were another 1.57 million. The number of visitors is expected to reach 2.5 million again by March this year.
On Tuesday, the first day of the Idul Fitri holiday, about 33,500 visited the zoo. The number sharply increased to about 70,000 on Wednesday. Last year, the zoo recorded 80,000 visitors during the Idul Fitri holiday.
Knowing all of the animals are getting enough food may steel visitors to the plaintive cries of monkeys begging for peanuts or elephants seeking fruit.
They do it just for fun, not because they are starving. Before the two days of Idul Fitri, the monkey's fat ration even had to be lowered to accommodate the peanuts from visitors.
No animals have died or had to be shipped off to other zoos because of the crisis. A total of 4,112 animals of 283 species live in Ragunan.
"Anyway," Sutarman said, "we couldn't sell them even if we wanted to. Which zoo can afford to buy animals now?"
It might seem a bit strange for some that the animals are fat and contented while many humans are desperate for food.
"But these animals are in captivity, and they cannot look for their own food. It would be a sin to let them starve," Sutarman said.
"To do something wrong to an animal is a greater sin than to do wrong to a human. You know why? With an animal, you can't beg for forgiveness, even on Idul Fitri."