Wildlife poaching rampant in Lampung

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung

Wildlife smuggling was out of control in Lampung, with syndicates often using elderly women as couriers, two environmental watchdogs said.

Lampung Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA) and Wildlife Crime Unit (WCU) investigations had found Lampung and South Sumatra were regional hubs for the illicit trade, which supplied animals to Jakarta and other large cities both locally and overseas, BKSDA head Puja Utama said.

WCU activist Dwi Nugroho said the syndicates had been operating in Sumatra and Java since the 1980s.

The Pramuka and Jatinegara markets in Jakarta were the main trading places for protected wildlife. Couriers usually used trains to carry the animals from South Sumatra to Tanjungkarang and later continued by bus to Jakarta. The animals were put into plastic crates, wooden boxes, bamboo baskets, cartons or bird cages. From 10 to 20 percent of the animals would die from suffocation on the journey, Dwi said.

The WCU had urged the Lampung provincial administration and the police to crack down on the trade in Sumatra, he said.

Seven elderly women have been recently detained for allegedly transporting protected wildlife, with 685 different species confiscated from them by the Lampung BKSDA. An elderly man was to be prosecuted at a Lampung court for wildlife smuggling but all the women had been released by police, Dwi said.

The latest smuggler arrested was Juariyah, 62, who was caught on Wednesday at Tanjungkarang railway station in possession of 55 protected animals -- 41 long-tailed macaques (Macaca pascicularis), three short-tailed macaques (Macaca Nemestrina), one simpai (Presbytis melalopos), eight kukang (Nyctycebus councang), a napuh (Tragulus melalopos) and a moon civet cat (Paguma Iarvata).

The simpai, kukang and napuh are protected under Law No.5, 1990 and Government Regulation No.7, 1999, while quotas for culling macaques have not been issued since 2001.

Juariyah, of Bukitsari, Baturaja in South Sumatra and a vendor at the Tempel market in Baturaja, said she was only delivering the animals. She bought the animals from villagers in Baturaja and a petshop owner in Mamat area, she said.

Juariyah was released after signing a letter promising not to smuggle animals again.

Puja said she was released on conditions as it was her first offense and because of her age.

Juariyah bought the macaques, kukang and simpai for between Rp 15,000 (US$ 1.6) and Rp 20,000 each. They would sell for between Rp 25,000 and Rp 30,000. She would make about Rp 20,000 on the napuh, with a market price of about Rp 50,000, and about Rp 5,000 on the civet cat, which would sell for Rp 15,000.

Primates such as the macaques, kukang, tarsius, sumatran lutung, beruk, simpai, civet cats and rare bird species were usually traded outside Sumatra, Puja said.

They were later sold for between Rp 100,000 (US$ 10.5) and Rp 350,000 an animal.