Watch out for boar meat!

Watch out for boar meat!

From Suara Karya

The mass media in Jakarta has contained news about the illegal
sale of boar meat which is sold as beef, not in local government-
owned markets but in other places. The marketing system of the
meat vendors is reportedly modern enough, namely by using box
trucks just like those used in the sale of beef.

As a person who has lived in Bengkulu long enough, I am of the
opinion that consuming boar meet can be harmful to one's health.
Besides, it is forbidden to Muslims.

Therefore the public should pay close attention to the recent
appeal of the Jakarta Animal Husbandry Agency concerning the
current marketing of boar meat which is sold as beef. There are
indications that some of the boar meat has come from Bengkulu
where hunting of boars has occurred for years because boars breed
like mice -- their population in Bengkulu is estimated at between
15,000 to 20,000 -- and they are extremely harmful to the farmers
and villagers in general. The boars damage or destroy rice-fields
and eat roots and corn. They are locally called kaput and
categorized as the number-one enemy of the local people of north
and south Bengkulu.

It appears that in addition to exporting boar meat to
Singapore, certain hunters have begun to supply the people of
Jakarta with boar meat under the guise of beef, using certain
modus operandi and covert techniques.

Good heavens!

VALERY E. SETIAWAN

Bengkulu