Pramuka bird market: Biggest black market for rare animals
Pramuka bird market: Biggest black market for rare animals
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The illegal trade of protected animals continues in Indonesia
despite Law No. 5/1990 on the preservation of flora and fauna.
Applying the law by banning illegal trade in protected animals
has so far failed to stop the trafficking.
The Gibbon Foundation director, Willie Smits, said on Monday
that Jakarta was notorious as a center of illegal trade in
protected animals.
"Various kinds of protected animals can be easily found at the
Pramuka bird market on Jl. Pramuka, East Jakarta. It is the
biggest black market for protected animals around the world," he
said.
The number of protected animals has continued to decrease due
to the illegal trade.
"It could harm the balance of nature," Smits said.
Every single day, three to five orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus)
are sold at Pramuka market from the total world population of
14,000, he claimed.
"The vendors, mostly criminals, even offer their customers
fake documents to deliver the protected animals to any
destination outside of Jakarta," Smits said.
Raids on the market have had no effect as the vendors never
see the inside of a jail. The vendors often resume business the
day after a raid.
Last week, the quarantine office at Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport seized more than 300 turtles bought at
Pramuka market to be smuggled to Hong Kong, China.
General Director of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation
Suhariyanto said illegal trade in protected animals had caused
Indonesia to suffer financial losses of more than that of illegal
logging.
However, he declined to name a figure as there is no available
data.
Suhariyanto admitted that the Ministry of Forestry could not
fight the illegal trade since it lacked optimum authority,
including manpower and funds, to control and arrest smugglers.
"We cannot act alone. We need support from the police, the
prosecutor's office and the Ministry of Justice," he told
reporters during the inauguration of a temporary shelter for
protected animals in Tegal Alur subdistrict, Kalideres, West
Jakarta.
The ministry has launched a campaign to disseminate
information about Law No. 5/1990 and has raided houses and
markets allegedly keeping or selling protected animals.
During the inauguration, Smits called on the government to
reveal its political will to combat the smuggling of protected
animals.
The Gibbon Foundation funded the development of the Rp 775
million (US$75,243) temporary shelter. The foundation will also
develop shelters in Surabaya and Malang in East Java, Yogyakarta
and Medan, North Sumatra.
"All this time, the government always complains there is no
shelter to keep protected animals seized in several raids. We
have built a place for them. We'll see if the government reveals
its political will. The ball is in their hands now," he said.
Last year, the Gibbon Foundation built a Rp 10 billion closure
in Ragunan Zoo for gorillas, courtesy of the late animal lover
Mrs. Puck Schmutzer. Four male lowlander gorillas on loan from
Howlett and Lymphne Park zoo in Kent, England, were scheduled to
arrive in late October, but controversy over the cost of their
food caused the plan to be cancel.
The administration had requested an annual fund of Rp 3.2
billion from the 2002 city budget to feed the gorillas. The
amount was far higher than the foundation's budget of Rp 200
million.