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.