Officials raid illegal circus, rescue animals
Officials raid illegal circus, rescue animals
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A ranger carefully shot a tranquilizer dart into a restless
leopard. After fifteen minutes, it was sedated, making it
possible for other rangers to move the gigantic cat from its
small cage to a spacious one.
The drama did not take place at the leopard's native home in
Africa, but here in Jakarta at a makeshift mini circus on Jl.
Buaran I in Rawa Badung hamlet, Cakung, East Jakarta, at the far
end of Pulogadung Industrial Estate.
Tipped off by non-governmental organization ProFauna
Indonesia, which deals with wild animals and the protection of
their natural habitat, officers of the Coordinating Body for
Natural Resources Protection (BKSDA) at the Ministry of Forestry
raided the circus last week.
Involving Jakarta Police detectives in the raid, the officers
rescued 11 endangered animals of different species: the leopard
(Panthera pardus), a Burmese python (Python molurus) known
locally as sanca bodo, and an Asiatic black bear.
The raid also saved two black long-tailed monkeys or lutung, a
yellow-crested cockatoo, a golden eagle, a porcupine, a squirrel,
an Estuarine crocodile, and a large crocodile indigenous to the
rivers of Papua, known as the Sungulok crocodile.
The animals, which are protected under Law No. 5/1990 on
biodiversity conservation, have been temporarily moved to the
Animal Rescue Unit (PPA) in Tegal Alur, West Jakarta, before the
government finds new homes for the animals.
The police detectives of the special unit for animal
protection took the circus owner, snake charmer Kirsadik who
calls himself Bidut Sableng, to their headquarters for an
interrogation. Bidut said that he had licenses to own and to make
a profit from the animals.
"But these licenses are invalid," said Putu, one of the police
detectives.
The 1990 law stipulates that a person who possesses or keeps
endangered/protected animals, dead or alive, and/or parts of
endangered/protected animals, are subject to a maximum five-year
jail term and Rp 100 million (US$11,235) in fines.
The government once issued a ministerial decree in 1991 which
allowed citizens to harbor endangered/protected animals
temporarily, in an effort to ease the government burden in
registering their numbers. The decree was revoked one year after
in was enacted.
Although harboring or keeping the animals is now a criminal
offense, it is widely publicized that many prominent people, such
as high-ranking armed forces officers, businesspeople and well-
known artists have private miniature zoos in their backyards.
Moreover, despite rising cases, the smuggling of
endangered/protected animals has yet to be handled seriously.
The smuggling of endangered/protected animals is now rated the
second biggest crime in the country after drugs and arms
smuggling.
The rescued animals, according to coordinator of ProFauna's
Jakarta chapter Hardi Baktiantoro, are in very poor condition.
The bear is suffering smallpox, while the monkeys are
traumatized, as evidenced by self-inflicted injuries.
Other animals in the circus, such as a large monitor lizard,
pig-tailed macaques, long-tailed monkeys, a goat with five feet,
a rooster with three feet and a Persian cat, are also in poor
condition. However, Bidut denied neglecting the animals.
"I'm not a bad person. I spend Rp 400,000 per day to feed them
goat meat. But this business is not so profitable. I'm just
earning a living by putting the animals on exhibition. I'm not
selling them," he told reporters.
The circus, which charged each visitor a Rp 2,000 entrance
fee, had been in operation for only a week. A resident, Idi
Muhamad, said nobody ever visited the circus.
"But we know that Bidut has been in this business for a long,
long time," he said.