Indonesia's rich keeping endangered pets

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http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,1870,135573,00.html?

 

Indonesia's rich keeping endangered pets

A conservationist is leading a war to persuade the elite to give up the pets

they see as status symbols

 

By Marianne Kearney

STRAITS TIMES INDONESIA BUREAU

 

JAKARTA - Indonesia's former police chief Suroyo Bimantoro is just one

member of the country's elite who keep orang utans and other endangered

species as pets.

 

These pets are viewed as status symbols among the upper class, even though

it is against the law to keep these animals.

 

But now, one man is leading a charge to persuade the elite to give up their

pets, and he is getting much-needed help from the local media.

 

Colonel Bimantoro gave up his eight-year-old orang utan because of the

widespread media coverage that accompanies Mr Yunus Makasau and his team of

conservation officers on their raids.

 

'Often if we are doing a raid we take Kompas, SCTV and go to the place. It

is much better than taking the police,' said Mr Yunus.

 

His team, along with all-important police back-up, regularly raids homes and

rescues orang utans, honey bears, gibbons, monkeys or even turtles.

 

Mr Yunus is leading a war to persuade the elite to give up their exotic pets

and preserve what is left of Indonesia's diverse wildlife and the widespread

coverage is doing the trick.

 

They followed him to former Home Affairs Minister Feisal Tanjung's residence

and collected his orang utan.

 

They also raided the home of Colonel Dadang, a military commander whose last

posting was in East Timor, and whose wife was a member of Parliament.

 

Many of Jakarta's rich and famous now feel they may be next, explains Mr

Yunus.

 

'After we conduct a raid, we address a press conference and many of the

people whose houses are raided earn a bad name and they are not happy,' he

said.

 

'But there are still many powerful people who still keep protected species

and have not yet been embarrassed into handing them over.'

 

It is understood that Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso is keeping an orang utan and

several species of endangered birds while former governor Ali Sadikin is

also understood to own a few bird species.

 

Nearly all the funding to keep the Conservation Office running does not come

from the government but from the Swiss-based Gibbon Foundation.

 

But the police back-up is crucial too.

 

'As a civilian it is difficult because I do not have guns even though I have

the power,' says Mr Yunus.

 

Usually, one of his assistants from the Nature Protection and Conservation

Office within the ministry approaches the home and persuades them to give up

the pets.

 

If that fails a raid is conducted.

 

And even with guns, conducting a raid can be difficult.

 

Last year, after a raid on Jalan Barito - a street famous for selling

endangered bird species from Maluku and West Papua - Mr Yunus spent three

weeks in hospital.

 

In an attempt to arrest illegal animal traders, he and two assistants were

mobbed and pelted with stones even though they had fired warning shots.

 

He was hit on the head and rendered unconscious.

 

He claims that the military is part of the problem too and said it is the

soldiers who supply the Jalan Barito traders.

 

A recent report by Animal Conservation for Life (KSBK) found that each year,

troops smuggle thousands of birds, such as lorikeets and cockatoos on their

military transport ships.