Friends of the Zoo
Thank you Ms Juliane Gunardono for giving Ragunan Zoo and Sahabat Satwa (Friends of the Zoo) an interesting write up in The Jakarta Post of Jan. 22, 1999. Unfortunately, members of the Friends of the Zoo were not given the chance to meet you personally to give you a better insight into our work. I would like to take this chance to give the public a greater awareness of our functions as a support group for Ragunan Zoo.
Sahabat Satwa is a voluntary non-profit organization. Our goals are to support and promote improvements within Ragunan Zoo and to foster greater public awareness in protecting the rich and varied animal life within Indonesia. To achieve this, we raise money and organize volunteers to help carry out projects within Ragunan Zoo.
Past projects have included the setting up and maintaining of both mealworm and mouse breeding programs, funding for new enclosures and repairs to existing ones, behavioral studies and tour programs. To make the zoo self-sustaining, we are currently helping it to set up a plantation to grow vegetables for the animals. Our money is usually raised from our local and expatriate members, the expatriate community or through local companies.
We are all aware of the recent problems that have beset Indonesia and recognize her struggle to overcome them. These uncertain times have had a particularly severe impact on the Zoo. One particular area of concern is over the animals' food bill. Prices have risen drastically over the past months and the zoo is having great problems meeting the cost of food, especially for the carnivores which include big cats like endangered Sumatran tigers, rare Bengal white tigers and African lions.
Organizations such as Sahabat Satwa have faced criticism for focusing their efforts on animals whilst millions of people are starving, which of course is simply not justified. Assisting areas important for tourism provides valuable assistance to the country as a whole by the indirect means of encouraging tourist spending. It is also often the case that members of Sahabat Satwa are compassionate people in general and are involved in projects, fund raising or direct assistance to those less fortunate than themselves.
The donations we receive are not necessarily from "wealthy citizens of Jakarta, most of them expatriates". For one thing, not all expatriates are wealthy. Most of us are working class people who happen to work in Jakarta and many have to support children at university back at home.
I must also draw to your attention a few selfless people who have made tremendous efforts to help the animals of the zoo. There was a little girl Sarah who made things and sold them to her friends and family so that she could give the money "to feed the cats". Then there was that special Christmas gift from Megan who told her parents she did not want anything for Christmas, only so that they could give the money to help feed the cats. A group of students from Pondok Indah Elementary School, who call themselves Sahabat Satwa Anak Anak (Young Friends of the Zoo), worked hard to raise a substantial amount of money to help the animals through a book sale. We, the volunteers of Sahabat Satwa, are touched by these gestures of charity.
As a final point, the animals who receive assistance from Sahabat Satwa are of course unable to speak for themselves, in contrast to those who are only now speaking out against widespread activities such as corruption within the very establishments which had ultimately been entrusted with responsibility for the people.
For anyone who feels he or she can help in any way, please contact Devi at the Friends of the Zoo office, telephone number 7820015 or telephone/fax number 7806164.
You can find out more about Sahabat Satwa on-line at: http://www.freeyellow.com/members5/sahabat-satwa/ , or contact Tony Cane at pacetc@indosat.net.id or Valerie Davey at vdavey@cbn.net.id.
VALERIE DAVEY
Jakarta