'I don't like Mondays': Zoo animals

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Just like human beings, some animals in Ragunan zoo, South Jakarta, hate Mondays, mainly because they usually suffer diarrhea on this particular day.

"Almost every Monday, some of the animals here suffer diarrhea after they have eaten food given by visitors," complained Dr. Bambang Triana, the zoo's veterinary clinic head.

With the number of visitors always reaching its peak on Saturdays and Sundays -- besides special occasions such as Idul Fitri, the New Year or school holidays -- the amount of food thrown to the animals by visitors also increases.

They ignore the signs warning them not to feed the animals.

The primates suffer to the greatest extent from diarrhea every Monday as they consume everything that is thrown at them, from peanuts to ice cream.

During The Jakarta Post's visit on Thursday morning, some visitors were seen feeding elephants and monkeys in the zoo, which occupies 135 hectares of land.

"It's fun to see the monkeys take the food," said Miana, 35, who was visiting the zoo with her children, eight and 10 respectively, to mark the long weekend holiday.

She had brought two packets of peanuts and two packets of popcorn to feed the apes and elephants. The children looked excited as an elephant sucked up the peanuts from the ground with its trunk.

"I don't think the peanuts will endanger the elephant's life. They eat peanuts too, right?" she said, ignoring the sign inside the pen saying, "Do not feed the animals, please."

Bambang has urged visitors repeatedly not to feed the animals under any circumstances.

"We don't know the quality of the food. Even the zoo itself has to examine the quality of the food everyday to prevent the animals from becoming ill," he said.

Throwing food to the animals also means creating trash. Zoo employees must clean out the pens twice every day, but extra work is required on Mondays.

"Dirty pens are prone to disease," Bambang said, pointing to the death of three white tiger cubs caused by hookworms last year. Previously, the death of the tigers had been reported as being due to rotten frozen pork.

At the moment, the zoo houses 3,200 animals representing some 277 species, including rare and endangered animals like orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), Komodo dragons (Varamus komodoensis) and Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris).