'Krismon' leaves Medan Zoo in sorry state

'Krismon' leaves Medan Zoo in sorry state

Apriadi Gunawan and Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Medan and Yogyakarta

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA)
recently reported that Indonesian zoos are in a sorry state with
the animals' welfare being largely neglected. The prolonged
economic crisis (krismon) has been blamed for their predicament.

Anhar Lubis of Medan Zoo and Joko Nur Prihadianto of
Yogyakarta's Gembira Loka zoo share their stories with The
Jakarta Post.

Anhar Lubis, manager of Medan Zoo, North Sumatra.

Medan zoo is currently in a poor condition.

The zoo only covers around three hectares of land, in contrast
to the ideal 20 hectares as required by Indonesian law.

With such a limited plot, the area should have been
established to house certain animals only, like for birds but not
for a zoo that houses various species of animals.

The zoo is now home to a total of 288 animals of different
species, including 22 species of mammals, 28 species of birds,
five species of reptiles and 20 species of fish.

Since the economic crisis hit the country in 1997, the zoo's
management has never reduced the quantity of food for each
animal. We have to spend around Rp 1.1 million to feed them every
day.

We limit food for zoo animals that are not breeding. So far we
have several new wild mammals, namely tigers and orangutans.

We are doing our best to provide sufficient food for the
animals and we are also looking for donors to help us build
better cages for the animals as the condition of some of both the
open and closed enclosures that we have here have deteriorated.

I personally think that it would be better if Medan Zoo was
moved to another location, ideally one that is larger, equipped
with better cages and away from the heart of the city. This way
we can expect more visitors and generate more income to improve
conditions.

Joko Nur Prihadianto, Public Relations Manager of Gembira Loka
Botanical Garden and Zoo, Yogyakarta.

We basically accept all the recommendations of the study. We
consider it as an input to improve conditions. We will do our
best to improve the welfare of all the animals here. We try to do
our best to provide them with an environment and treatment that
best suits their original natural habitat. This is our basic
principle in handling them in the zoo.

There are of course several things in the report that we do
not fully agree with. For example regarding the way it described
stressed animals. It, for instance, asserted that stressed
elephants would keep moving their trunks. In fact, they do so not
only when they are stressed, but also when they are hungry.

They do so also to remove dirt and food from their trunks.

We are currently in the process of establishing a caging
system that best suits the animals' needs, that best resembles
their true habitat. But, of course, we cannot do so all at once.
We have to do so step by step, especially due to the limited
funds we have.

In 2001 we had a total income of some US$100,000 according to
an evaluation conducted by the Ethics and Welfare Committee of
the South East Asia Zoos Association (SEAZA). But we raised the
entrance fee from Rp 4,000 to Rp 5,000 since April this
year.

This means that our income will hopefully increase by up to 25
percent as well, giving us more space to provide the animals with
much better conditions.

Gembira Loka occupies some 14 hectare of land, five hectares
of which are allocated for a botanical garden. It serves as the
lungs of the city with hundreds of forest plants including rare
ones. The zoo accommodates some 1,000 animals of some
265 species.

We spend around Rp 64 million a month for taking care of all
the animals. This excludes the fund allocated for the cage
rehabilitation program.