Lampung park criticized for poor wildlife treatment

Lampung park criticized for poor wildlife treatment

Oyos Saroso H.N.
The Jakarta Post/Bandarlampung

Environmentalists in Lampung lashed out at the Bumi Kedaton
Safari Park (TWABK) management for treating animals under its
care poorly.

Director of the Lampung chapter of the Indonesian Forum for
the Environment (Walhi), Mukri Friatna, charged that the park,
which is located in Batuputu subdistrict, Telukbetung district in
Bandarlampung, had set a poor example of wildlife protection and
management in the country.

He said the park has exploited the animals.

"What would you call it if not exploitation when the elephants
have lost much of their weight in a period of just a few months.
Besides the squalid enclosures, the animals are also underfed,"
said Mukri.

The elephants which perform in animal shows at the park, which
started operation in October last year, were acquired from the
Way Kambas Elephant Training Center (PLG). To date, the park has
replaced the elephants three times.

"The park usually keeps five elephants. If they grow thin,
they are replaced with new ones from the elephant training
center. That's clearly animal exploitation," said coordinator of
Lampung's Wildlife Crime Unit (WCU), Dwi Nugroho.

According to Dwi, the Lampung provincial administration
initially dedicated the park as a recreational area -- not a zoo.
Although the park takes care of animals, the arrangement is only
temporary in nature before they will be kept at the planned
Animal Protection Center (PPS) at the Youth Camp in the Wan Abdul
Rahman Forest Park in the future.

"Why is this place allowed to operate as a wildlife transit
point with these conditions? Reckless handling has caused many
animals to fall sick and die," said Dwi.

According to Dwi, observations show that many animals in the
park are suffering and have died. A crocodile died in May this
year. Gibbons and horses also appeared weak because they were
underfed.

"The management should not only think of profit without taking
good care of the animals," said Dwi.

The park is home to a variety of animals, including protected
species.

There are more than 100 animals from the 27 species in the
park. The protected species consist of five Sumatran elephants
(Elephas maximus sumateranus), five estuary crocodiles
(Crocodylus javanicus), one bondol eagle (Halyantus indus), one
black eagle (Ictynaetus malayensis), two poccupines (Hystrix
brachura), three black parrots (Lorius lory) and three wildcats
(Felix bengalensis).

Among the unprotected animal species are the short-tailed
macaque (Macaca nemestrina), the Macaca fascicularis and
Presbitis melalopos monkey species and various bird and fowl
species.

"Bumi Kedaton Natural Park is a joint venture between PT Bumi
Kedaton, owned by Darwis Nasution, and the Lampung provincial
administration. The park was set up to take advantage of its
natural environment which can be developed into a nature
education center and camping ground for students," said head of
the Lampung Tourism Office, Yanto Riyanto.

Covering an area of six hectares, the park is located in a
natural setting where various animal species are found.

The Lampung administration is also planning to add five more
hectares to the park to be turned into camping grounds.

The park management replaces elephants with those at the Way
Kambas elephant training center as it wishes, allegedly based on
a permit from the Lampung administration.

Head of the Lampung Natural Resource Conservation Agency
(BKSDA), Agus Harianta, said his office had required the park to
apply for a permit from the BKSDA, because it did not have the
required facilities to take care of wildlife, such as a zoo.

Agus said he was not aware on the condition of other animals,
apart from the elephants. The agency, he added, received reports
on elephants each month but not other animals.

"The park should have a veterinarian if it is officially
recognized as a conservation institute. As far as I know, there
are no other animals tended by veterinarians other than the
elephants. The elephants are attended to by veterinarians from
BKSDA," said Agus.

Since its inception, the park has been the object of protests
from various environmental organizations in Lampung. The Wildlife
Crime Unit has questioned the Lampung administration's commitment
to the park's existence.

The park is set up as a transit place for wildlife before the
realization of the Wan Abdul Rahman Animal Protection Center
(PPS), but environmentalists view it more as a zoo than an animal
transit center.

Meanwhile, Lampung councillor Yandri Nazir said the council
felt it had been deceived by the governor and operator of the
park because it turned out the park was not an asset to the
provincial administration.

"Funds from the provincial budget were used to invest in and
operate the park, but the administration has not received
anything from ticket sales.

"We feel deceived. If we had known the park would be owned by
a third party, we would clearly object because the operational
funds were derived from the provincial budget," said Yandri.

Funds disbursed through the Ministry of Forestry in 2005
amounting to Rp 500 million (US$50,000) were used for animal feed
and the care of two elephants. The Lampung provincial
administration had also assisted the park owner with Rp 300
million to build a wildlife enclosure.