Official takes blame for death of dolphins

Official takes blame for death of dolphins

SURAKARTA, Central Java (JP): Ministry of Forestry's
Directorate General for Protection and Conservation of Nature
admitted responsibility for allowing PT Solo Citra Perkasa to
capture and breed dolphins which were found dead recently.

Director General A. Manan Siregar said on Thursday that his
staff were ignorant in issuing a permit to the private company.

"We were not well informed if the company was technically
capable of capturing and breeding dolphins," he told The Jakarta
Post after speaking at a seminar at the Gadjah Mada University
campus.

He pledged his office would be more careful in issuing permits
for breeding endangered species. "I will physically check the
breeding site before a permit is issued in the future. I am
serious," he said.

He said there was no technical guidance available on dolphin
breeding when his office issued the permit to PT Solo Citra
Perkasa, therefore, his office should not be held accountable for
that.

PT Solo Citra Perkasa earned a permit in 1997 to capture and
keep the mammals at Taru Jurug Zoo, which it manages.

The company has claimed that it captured nine bottle-nosed
dolphins off the north coast of Java and that six of them died
due to digestive problems.

The Association of Indonesian Zoos found indications that the
mammals died because of poor treatment.

"The facilities available were completely inappropriate," the
report of an investigation team set up by the association said.

It remains unclear how many dolphins died at the zoo so far.

Director of the Kartika Chandra Legal Institute quoted two
former dolphin keepers as saying recently that 15 of 18 dolphins
in the zoo died.

Local police, who investigated the death of the dolphins
following the legal institute's report, have named the PT Solo
Citra Perkasa director as the main suspect. (44/sur)