Rare species protection not easy

Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

Just visit any bird market near you, and there, you will find many rare and protected animals for sale.

Bird markets in major cities in Java and Bali are well-known as black markets for the illegal trade of protected and endangered species in Asia.

Director of Animal Conservation for Life (KSBK), Rosek Nursahid, said that illegal trade in rare animals in Indonesia was as extensive and complicated as the illegal trade of drugs and weapons.

He was disclosing the result of the organization's latest survey on the sales of protected animals in several cities: Satria bird market in Denpasar, Bali; Splendid in Malang and Bratang in Surabaya -- both in East Java; Ngasem in Yogyakarta; Depok in Surakarta, Central Java; Sukahaji in Bandung and Pramuka and Jatinegara in Jakarta.

In l996, the turnover from rare animal trade in 12 bird markets in Java and Bali reached around Rp 2 billion (around US$200,000).

"Now, the amount has already reached Rp 20 billion, and that's only in five bird markets. This figure excludes export and smuggling to other countries," Rosek said.

Trade in protected animals and plants is strictly prohibited under Law No. 5/l990 on the preservation of flora and fauna. To uphold this law, government officials have frequently carried out raids targeting individual houses and markets allegedly keeping and selling such species, without much success.

Early this month, on March 9, KSBK staff and 30 officials from the Ministry of Forestry raided Pramuka and Jatinegara bird markets in East Jakarta and several other places in Jakarta.

The raid at Pramuka bird market in East Jakarta, according to KSBK Jakarta's staff Pramudya, only resulted in the confiscation of two eagles, elang bondol (haliaetus Indus)) and elang laut perut putih (haliaetus leucogaster).

"Someone had leaked the information about the raid to traders at Pramuka bird market," Pramudya concluded.

But during the raid in Jatinegara bird market, the team seized a significant number of protected animals like black eagles (spizaeutus cirrhatus), porcupines (hystrix brachyura) and other rare birds.

Apart from bird markets, the team also seized two female and male orangutan (pongo pygmaeus) at an animal show at Ragunan Zoo complex in South Jakarta and one siamang belonging to an army colonel at Jl. M. Kafie, Ciganjur, South Jakarta.

"Many high ranking army officials across the country were found keeping rare animals including Sumatran tigers, bears, orangutans and eagles but nothing can be done unless there is a strong political will on the part of the government to deal with this problem," Rosek added.

In Bali, hundreds of rare birds from Papua were seized this month at the Ngurah Rai International Airport, while at Satria bird market in Denpasar, rare birds and mammalian are often openly displayed.

"This illegal business has become so profitable and can generate millions of dollars," Rosek explained.

Citing a convincing example, he said that an orangutan could be bought in a Kalimantan or Sumatra forest for only Rp 50,000. At the local bird markets, an orangutan might be sold for Rp 3 million. "But if an orangutan is smuggled to Japan, it could be priced at more than Rp 150 million," Rosek said.

Ketut Muliarta, head of the environmental agency overseeing Bali, West and East Nusa Tenggara provinces, said that close cooperation among provinces vulnerable to illegal trade of rare animals was necessary.

"Bali and Java are profitable trade centers but the providers come from Lombok, Sumbawa in West Nusa Tenggara and Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara," Ketut said.