Two orangutans confiscated

SURABAYA: A crackdown on the illegal possession of endangered species in East Java has resulted in the confiscation of two orangutans and a gibbon in the East Java city of Malang.

Authorities from the Natural Resource Conservation, the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife Conservation for Life (KSKB) together with the police confiscated the primates from a house belonging to Nur Hasyim in Gondanglegi, Malang, on Thursday.

KSKB director Rosek Nursahid said in Surabaya on Friday that his office learned about Nur Hasyim's illegal possession of the orangutans after he displayed the animals at a recent development exhibition at Bululawang Stadium.

Rosek contended that Nur did not have the necessary documents for keeping the protected animals.

According to prevailing regulations, namely Law No. 5/1999 on conservation and Government Regulation No. 8/1999, no one can keep orangutans without presidential consent.

Violations against the law carries a maximum penalty of a five-year jail term and a Rp 100 million fine.

Rosek said that the confiscated orangutans would be returned to their natural habitat in Kalimantan, after being rehabilitated at the Orangutan Reintroduction Center in Semboja, East Kalimantan.

"Orangutans are in danger of extinction because of forest fires and illegal hunting.

"Therefore, to protect them, we need people's participation, including by not purchasing or raising orangutans," Rosek said. -- Antara