Vendors hail drive against bird smuggling
JAKARTA (JP): Over 250 Pramuka Bird Market vendors responded positively Sunday to the government's drive to raise the public's awareness of the 1990 ruling on the smuggling of endangered species.
"The government needs to improve its, and the public's, awareness of the illegal trade in animals," said Sutarno, a Pramuka market vendor.
"I believe almost all the traders here support the campaign," he said.
Sutarno said unlicensed animal vendors outside the market earned up to Rp 500,000 (US$206) for a single red lory parrot.
"Endangered birds, such as the Rothschild starling, hornbills or the Nias talking myna, are often bought by buyers who discreetly approach sellers. Because sellers only display their rare birds when they are sure no police are around."
He said the increasing number of unlicensed vendors had cut the market's bird sellers' incomes.
"Sometimes we only earn Rp 25,000 a day or even nothing."
Sutarno and another vendor, Haji Sulaiman, said the campaign would protect endangered animals and improve their income. They said the government needed to take action against any officials or individuals involved in smuggling.
"We cannot compete with people who have financial support and backing," they said.
Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo, who launched the information campaign Sunday, said the government needed to remind the public of the 1990 natural resource conservation ruling.
It says endangered species must not be caught, wounded, killed, stored, possessed, bred, transported or traded, alive or dead, without government permission.
"The Indonesian government has been criticized by organizations from the United States, Britain and Australia because of its inconsistent law enforcement," Djamaludin said.
He said Jakarta was allegedly an international animal smuggling route.
Governor Surjadi Soerdirdja said at the launch that the high prices on the heads of endangered indigenous species caused the buying and selling of rare animals for status and profit.
East Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusuma Airport and sea ports were often used to smuggle animals overseas.
Surjadi said the city had rescued 169 rare animals from smugglers in 1996, and another 51 between January and March this year.
Djamaludin called on citizens not to take protected animals overseas with them without official permission. He said he expected the police to catch all syndicates and personnel involved smuggling.
"Anyone caught smuggling could face five years in prison and a Rp 100 million fine," he said.
The minister called on elementary educational institutions to support the drive by taking their students to zoos and national parks, to increase their students' awareness of loving and caring for endangered species.
A Golkar faction city councilor, Amarullah Asbah, said citizens and authorities new little about which species were endangered, so the ministry needed to step up its information campaign about protected animals.
According to the Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation, Indonesia has 218 endangered species, including 82 rare indigenous birds.
Only the breeding of protected species, with government permission, is allowed under the existing law. (10)