Seizing illegal pets an uphill challenge

Seizing illegal pets an uphill challenge

Bambang M, Contributor, Yogyakarta

"I can't accept this. I'm really disappointed. This is not
democratic at all. You are forcing your will on me," said Sutedjo
when members of a joint team made up of Yogyakarta Natural
Resources Conservation Center, Yogyakarta police and a number of
environmental non-governmental organizations confiscated two
protected cockatoos from him.

There was a tense argument. Sutedjo, the owner of "Berkah", a
shop selling building materials argued that he had a permit to
keep the protected birds. He also telephoned a police officer
friend for some back up. Eventually, though, the two cockatoos
were seized.

A similar situation occurred when a raid of this kind was
conducted in March. The owners tried to prevent the animals from
being confiscated while the officers on duty insisted on
confiscating the animals as possession of them is in direct
violation of Law No. 5/1990 on conservation.

The law stipulates that it is forbidden to catch, keep,
transport or trade protected animals, either live or dead. It
mandates imprisonment of a maximum of 5 years or a fine amounting
to a maximum of Rp 100 million for perpetrators.

Although these stipulations are read before them, the owners
usually refuse to hand over their "pets". Dody Widya Rusmana, a
businessman on Jl. Mataram, Yogyakarta, for example, refused to
let go of a gibbon (Symphalangus syndactylus) belonging to his
father, who was still in Padang when a confiscation team came to
take away the animal.

"Please come back tomorrow when my dad is back here," he said.
The officers did not insist and agreed. Rusmana, however, had to
sign a statement that he would agree to hand over the gibbon the
next day.

Unfortunately, the father was still away the next day.
Although Rusmana could not produce a permit for possession of the
gibbon, he was still reluctant to comply with the confiscation
team's request. This time, the officers in charge insisted on
taking away the gibbon as Rusmana had signed the statement.
Rusmana was livid.

"He tore up the statement that he had signed the previous
day," said Edi Warsito of the Yogyakarta conservation center, who
led the raid. In addition, the team also confiscated a stuffed
Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) as it too, had no
permit.

The team was drawn into a heated argument when they went to
confiscate two green peacocks (Pavo muticus) from Pesona Pingka
restaurant in Wedomartani village, Sleman. Mucharom, who is
responsible for the restaurant management, asked for a
postponement, arguing that the owner of the restaurant was then
away. "My boss would like to see you first," he said after
contacting his boss by phone.

When Edi Warsito and police brigadier Sultonudin from the
Yogyakarta police said they could not wait, Mucharom contacted
his boss again. When he was asked to immediately sign a statement
on the handing over of animals, again he asked the team to
postpone the confiscation. "I don't know what to tell my boss
about this," he said before finally signing the statement. It
took close to two hours to finally seize the two peacocks.

In some cases, however, it runs smoothly for the diligent
team. After some explanation from the officers in charge, the
illegally captured animals are handed over. "I didn't know that a
permit was needed to keep this animal. So, just take it away,"
said HM Kusman Abdi, director of Vocational Training Center of
Yogyakarta State University. So, he let go the green peacock he
had been keeping.

In major cities like Jakarta the seizure of protected animals
must go through a more complicated process. "Often we fail to get
into the house as the security men bar us," said Sugihartono,
project manager of Wildlife Rescue Center of Yogyakarta, who has
some experience taking part in a raid to confiscate protected
animals in Jakarta.

Several years ago, Sugihartono had quite a tense experience in
Sukabumi. When the officers and non-governmental organization
activists were going to conduct confiscation, the owner shouted,
"Thieves, Thieves..." to his neighbors to get them to come mete
out mob justice.

As a result, dozens of locals ran to the house with various
kinds of weapons and were ready to attack the team members. "We
contacted the local police to control the mob. Only then could we
conduct the confiscation," he said.

Many efforts to confiscate protected animals kept by high-
ranking military officers have failed. It is generally known that
these people are fond of keeping protected animals. Usually, they
get these animals as "souvenirs" from the regions where they are
assigned. Sometimes they get them from their subordinates as
"gifts."

"One of our men was told to leave when he was going to enter
the house of a high-ranking military officer in Yogyakarta. This
officer was thought to have a lot of protected birds," said
Wiratno. This raid was conducted when he was head of Yogyakarta
natural resources conservation center (1999 - 2001). "You will
find a similar situation anywhere," he added.

Aside from the dialog to facilitate this confiscation, another
difficulty is related to the transfer of these protected animals.
A special trick must be employed to collect animals that are
likely to hurt people or wild animals.

When they were going to collect the gibbon belonging to
Rusmana's father, the activists of Yogyakarta PPS (center
accommodating seized animals) with the assistance of the
caretaker of the animal - took a lot of time to persuade the
gibbon to leave its cage and move to the cage prepared by the
confiscation team. The team had to approach the gibbon softly as
otherwise he would bite them. Still, however, Oki of PPS
Yogyakarta got bitten in the hand.

There was also difficulty when a confiscation team was going
to confiscate a sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) owned by
Sudarwanto of Pacitan, who was then running an "animal show" at
Wedomartani village, Sleman. This animal has sharp claws and was
very difficult to move to the cage prepared by the team. Under
the scorching sun, the team members could eventually lift the
bear and its iron cage - weighing a total of some 200 kgs - and
put it into a truck.

Talking about the difficulty faced during a confiscation
process, Wiratno attributed this to the lack of understanding of
the law.

Is it true that the owners of protected animals really do not
know that it is forbidden to keep protected animals? Many of them
are from the middle class and must have easy access to
information. Wiratno, now assigned by the forestry ministry to
help Conservation International-Indonesia Program, said, "Some of
them are ignorant of the law but some others intentionally
violate the law," he said.

When he was head of Yogyakarta natural resources conservation
center, Wiratno said, the center confiscated a number of
orangutans from a high-ranking police officer in Yogyakarta.

"As a law enforcer, this officer, strangely, said he was not
aware that it was forbidden to keep an orangutan," said Wiratno,
who obviously could not hide his surprise at this ignorance.

Therefore, Sugihartono tended to believe that the majority of
the people knew that possessing or keeping protected animals was
not allowed by the state. "They intentionally violate the law
just to pursue their hobby," he added.

A confiscation process is usually difficult because the owner
concerned has fallen in love with the animals in his possession
or because the animals is expensive. In some other cases, the
owners believe that they have some backing from powerful
officials. In the case of high-ranking officials, they believe
that they are above any laws.