Zoo games cloud ape project
Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The prolonged row between the city's Ragunan Zoo and the councillors has confused Howletts and Port Lympne Animal Park, which will lend four gorillas to the zoo, and the Gibbon Foundation, which will provide support for the care of the apes.
Willie Smits, director of the Gibbon Foundation, said he was disappointed with the inaccuracy of local media reports and with the dispute between councillors and the Ragunan management, mostly about the spending on the gorillas.
"The people in Britain are hesitant (to lend the gorillas) as newspaper clippings on the matter are sent there," Willie said in a discussion here on the controversy surrounding the gorillas, organized by the Dialog Forum on Tourism.
He added that soon experts would come to Indonesia to determine whether Ragunan really deserved the gorillas.
"I don't understand, as we are only trying to help. Why are people here making such a fuss about the funds to feed the gorillas? Our foundation will be providing the funds for the whole three-year period," he added.
Smits was mandated by the late Mrs. Puck Schmutzer, founder of an animal lovers' foundation, in her will to arrange the lending of four low-land African gorillas, to Ragunan Zoo.
Schmutzer also financed the building of a giant enclosure for the gorillas, costing Rp 10 billion, in Ragunan Zoo.
The Gibbon Foundation will cover all expenses for the gorillas and other primates in the zoo. According to Smits, Rp 200 million per month was enough to feed and maintain the gorillas and other primates in the zoo.
The gorillas could eat vegetables, hibiscus leaves known locally as kembang sepatu, and even sugar cane and not merely imported and expensive fruits.
Earlier reports stated that for the four gorillas alone, the zoo would need to allocate Rp 2.2 million per day or a total of Rp 3.2 billion annually, which would be taken from the city budget.
"I am confused by media reports that the zoo management is still asking for some Rp 3.2 billion annually from the city budget. What is it for?" Smits remarked.
Also speaking in the discussion were Allen Marbun, the zoo's operational director and Agus Darmawan, a member of the City Council's Commission B for economics and development affairs.
A councillor last week urged the city governor to dismiss Allen for allegedly trying to bribe him with Rp 90 million in an attempt to cover-up irregularities in the spending of funds at the zoo.
Allen said the City Council deserved the money as they had actively taken part in land acquirement for the zoo.
Allen denied media reports on the zoo's proposal for the funds for the gorillas. "You may examine our proposal, there is not a single mention about the gorillas."
According to Allen, what was reported by the media was the calculation made by the zoo, which was submitted to the city administration for the calculation of the ticket price to see the gorillas.
"We need to put together all costs, including the food, the maintenance of their enclosures and other things, to calculate the ticket price," Allen said.
The City Council last month set tickets at between Rp 2,000 and Rp 3,000.
When asked to comment on the gorilla controversy, Agus Darmawan only said that from the very beginning, the councillors were never consulted about the plan for the apes to be lent to the zoo.
"And if all the controversy is now about the figures, it is still being discussed by the City Council's Commission C for budgetary affairs," Agus said.