Kalimantan's proboscis monkeys close to extinction
Kalimantan's proboscis monkeys close to extinction
By Hasan Zainuddin
BANJARMASIN, South Kalimantan (Antara): The proboscis monkey in Kalimantan is on the brink of extinction due to the rapid loss of its habitat.
Kaget island in Barito Kuala regency, South Kalimantan, was once expected to serve as the last sanctuary for the big, reddish golden skinned, long-nosed primate. But the island's forest is dying.
The number of rambai (Soneratha cosiolaris) trees, which bear edible fruit which is a staple food of the proboscis monkey, has been fast dwindling since 1997.
The mass death of the vital trees has triggered panic among environmentalists and officials. They assume it precedes the extinction of the proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus), which have been protected by law since 1972.
South Kalimantan Governor Gusti Hasan Aman has ordered relevant officials and experts from Lambung Mangkurat University to conduct research on how save the animals from extinction.
The research report says that the rambai trees died because the proboscis monkeys had reproduced too fast in their small habitat and they had devoured every leaf of every tree.
The 267-hectare Kaget island has lost 182 hectares of mainly rambai trees. The land the trees once stood on has been turned into agricultural farms. Reforestation has been implemented but to no avail.
Meanwhile, the panicky officials have tried every way possible to save the animals. One controversial tactic was to move 86 of the 127 surviving proboscis monkeys to Surabaya Zoo in East Java last year. The evacuation operation turned out to be disastrous because 25 of the animals died on the way to Surabaya and another 37 died in the zoo.
The death of so many proboscis monkeys in the rescue operation triggered a wave of protests from various quarters. A group of animal lovers from Malang, East Java, staged a demonstration at the zoo, demanding that the remaining animals be returned to Kaget island.
Governor Hasan Aman was also furious and pressed the same demand.
Achmad Arifin, a proboscis monkey lover and a tourist guide to Kaget island, is among those condemning the loss of the exotic animals. He said the monkeys were mishandled.
"They should have carefully learned basic things about the primates before they decided to evacuate them," he said.
He witnessed the research on the primate habitat and population and considered it all badly implemented. He cast doubt on the finding that the rambai trees died because "they had all their leaves devoured by the proboscis monkeys".
There have been different estimates on the number of proboscis monkeys on Kaget island. According to the Ministry of Forestry's South Kalimantan office, the animals numbered 115 in 1990. But in its 1997 research, a team of experts from Lambung Mangkurat University reported that the number was 304.
Then in 1998, the team in charge of evacuation found only 127 proboscis monkeys.
"These greatly different versions show that the 1997 research was wildly inaccurate," said Arifin. "The report was made only to give credence to its claim that Kaget island was overpopulated by proboscis monkeys."
Besides, he said, how is it possible that about 115 proboscis monkeys multiplied to 304 only in seven years and then decreased again to 127 a year later?
Arifin said he doubted the researchers' claim that the rambai trees had all their leaves eaten by the animals. He says he noticed that the leaves had turned brown and had fallen to the ground. The fallen leaves were abundant on the ground and in ditches.
He theorizes that the trees probably died due to increased industrial waste released into Barito River by factories along its banks and also because of the herbicide used by farmers to control pests.
Dozens of factories have been built along both sides of Barito River. It is understood that they dump their industrial waste into the river.
Arifin also says the replanting of rambai trees initiated by the government to save the proboscis monkey was a shoddy project. Seedlings were planted and left without proper care.
"I saw the replanted areas were left high and dry. They became overgrown by grass and then died."
Arifin questioned the policy of evacuating the large number of proboscis monkeys to Surabaya Zoo instead of to areas which have similar conditions to Kaget island, such as Tanjung Puting in Central Kalimantan, which has a orangutan breeding center.
There have been doubts over how many proboscis monkeys died on their way to Surabaya and in the zoo because the authorities did not issue any official reports on the matter.
"There has been speculation that the animals were in fact exported to a country which needed them for research purposes," Arifin said.