Guest guest Posted January 22, 2003 Report Share Posted January 22, 2003 ***************************Advertisement*************************** eCentral - Your Entertainment Guide http://www.star-ecentral.com ***************************************************************** This message was forwarded to you by yitzeling. Comment from sender: This article is from thestar.com.my URL: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2003/1/21/features/wildanimal & se\ c=features ________________________ Tuesday, January 21, 2003 Illegal bargains galore By JOHN AGLIONBY YOU name it, we can get it for you,” Baki said simply, waving his mobile phone as if to show delivery was just a quick call away. “Monkeys, tarsiers, cuscus, birds of paradise, eagles, cockatoos, turtles, gibbons, orangutans, leopards, panthers, whatever you want. Tigers and rhinos are a bit harder and will take longer, but should not be a problem.” One of his supporting cast, Lesty, then chipped in, as if on cue in a well-rehearsed act. “And don & #8217;t worry if you don & #8217;t like the goods,” he said a little too enthusiastically for my liking. “You are under no obligation to buy. We will just dispose of the animals elsewhere. Or perhaps you might consider taking a stuffed animal instead? It doesn & #8217;t cost so much to feed.” What was so shocking about this exchange was not that it was taking place & #8211; I was not so naive as to think the Indonesian government had somehow magically solved the problem of illegal animal trading in the past two years, since the plight of endangered species last hit the international headlines & #8211; but how openly and brazenly it was happening. Baki, Lesty and I were not haggling in some seedy office in a back alley of Jakarta where the authorities would never interrupt us. We were by Baki & #8217;s collection of cages in the Jatinegara animal market in east Jakarta, sandwiched between a bustling thoroughfare from which a continuous procession of rusty buses belched fumes onto the animals, and the pavement where fish sellers repeatedly checked the water temperature and bubble flow in huge plastic tubs as prospective buyers peered down inquiringly. And the longer we talked, the bigger the crowd of onlookers grew. “Don & #8217;t worry about anything,” Baki said while stroking the head of a majestic bird of prey. “We have our contacts and will be told if a raid is being planned. There hasn & #8217;t been one for months. These people are harmless.” It & #8217;s a steal The next shock came when we started discussing prices. Unlike in other countries in South-East Asia, such as Thailand, where dozens of tigers reared in farms are traded illegally, what is unique about the Indonesian trade is that more than 95% of the animals being sold come from the wild. This means stocks are being constantly depleted. Then there & #8217;s the risk (though more theoretical than real) the traders are taking. Considering that most of the species on offer are endangered, and so listed as protected, anyone caught trading them faces up to five years in prison and up to US$11,000 (RM41,800) in fines per animal. In the light of all this, I was expecting to pay about US$1,500 (RM5,700) for a young orangutan or a panther, more for a tiger and about half for a tarsier & #8211; the size of a woman & #8217;s fist when full-grown, it is among the world & #8217;s smallest primates. “It & #8217;s like this, mister,” Baki began, clearly trying to justify an outrageous price. “Orangutans are getting pretty hard to find these days, so I & #8217;m going to have to charge you at least two million rupiah.” On seeing the surprise on my face, he added hurriedly, “But we can offer you a discount.” Baki had completely misinterpreted my look. Two million rupiah is only about US$225 (RM855) & #8211; a complete bargain, I thought, considering there are perhaps only 15,000-20,000 orangutans left in the wild, and in many areas they are reaching critically low populations, thanks to the poachers and illegal loggers who are destroying their habitat at a rate of 1.6m hectares a year. Overseas, they go for 100 times that amount, particularly in countries such as Taiwan and Japan, where they are extremely popular as pets. Baki said a panther would cost about US$180 (RM684) and everything else was less than the price of a steak in a smart London restaurant. Once I & #8217;d convinced Baki that I was neither a Greenpeace activist nor an investigative reporter, he said he would have something on offer the following day. I promised to return, but said I would look elsewhere first. “Elsewhere” is primarily the Pramuka bird market, also in the sprawling suburbs of east Jakarta. The main building is an attractive two-storey warehouse, packed from floor to ceiling with hundreds of cages full of birds of every colour and size imaginable. The screeching cacophony generated by the competing egos is considered beautiful music by thousands of bird fanciers who buy legal birds every day. Waiting at the entrance was Irwan, a self-appointed guide. “I show you round,” he said, attaching himself to my left arm. “I get you what you want.” He was as good as his word. Within 10 minutes we had seen four endangered animals and only one of them, a bird of paradise from Papua (the Indonesian half of New Guinea island), had wings, highlighting the market & #8217;s inappropriate name. The cutest was a tarsier, which clearly did not appreciate being woken during the day. This nocturnal creature & #8217;s bulging eyes & #8211; about the size of very small coins and yet so completely out of proportion with the rest of its tiny body & #8211; looked scared and confused as it was exposed to Jakarta & #8217;s harsh tropical sunlight. Next to it was a cuscus, a cuddly ball of golden brown fur. Only later was I told that its teeth had been ripped out with pliers to protect the future owners. The tarsier owner, Rikza, eventually decided I could be trusted and said he had “something special” to show me at the back. In a small padlocked shed on the bank of a stinking canal were half a dozen cages. The first animal I noticed was what appeared to be an ordinary tabby cat. But just as I was about to complain, I noticed the contents of the next-door cage. Slumped in the corner of the 50cm cube was a young honey bear, unable to stand up straight and barely able to move around. The words miserable, forlorn and afraid do not do justice to the pained expression etched on its face. Even the unique yellow crescent of fur on its chest & #8211; which with most honey bears resembles a smile & #8211; seemed despondent. Its claws had been cut and its body looked emaciated. “We were hoping to sell this to an animal show,” Rikza said. “But if you are interested, I & #8217;m sure we could come to a deal.” As he locked up the shed, a taxi pulled up next to us and what should pop out but a 1.2 metre black leopard. Luckily it was stuffed and mounted on a fake log, but it still cut an imposing figure with its razor-sharp teeth glistening between its open jaws. Its owner, a civil servant named Sukma who wanted to supplement his meagre government income, had no qualms about showing it off to me, even though we were in the middle of a road, in full view of anyone who might be passing. “If you want a panther, I & #8217;d recommend getting a stuffed one,” he said. “They & #8217;re only three million rupiah (RM1,320) and a lot easier to handle than a real one!” With that he covered his prized possession with a green tarpaulin and lugged it off down a side alley. The fact that I could have started a very respectable zoo after a single morning & #8217;s work and for only a few thousand pounds does not mean the poachers, traders and smugglers have everything their own way. Several non-governmental organisations are fighting back on behalf of the animals and pushing the government to be more active. Animal activists The most famous campaigner is probably Dr Birute Galdikas who, along with Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall, was picked to study the great apes by the palaeontologist Dr Louis Leakey more than 30 years ago. Dr Galdikas arrived in Kalimantan, the Indonesian half of Borneo island, in 1971 to observe mankind & #8217;s closest relative in the animal kingdom, and has never left. Over the decades, she has arguably done more than anyone to raise awareness of the orangutans & #8217; plight and the desecration of their habitat, the lush tropical rainforest, through her work at Camp Leakey in Central Kalimantan. But fighting the traders at their own game and on their own turf in the markets of Jakarta and other big cities requires different skills, which are being honed by groups such as Konservasi Satwa Bagi Kehidupan (Animal Conservation For Life) and Pantau (Monitor). They compile data, raise awareness, educate government officials and kick-start them into cracking down on the criminals. “It & #8217;s a real struggle and it & #8217;s getting harder and harder,” said Hartoyo Atmodjo, coordinator of Pantau. “Indonesia has been in a financial crisis for more than four years now and many people in the forests see selling endangered animals as the easiest way to make a living.” This is seen most clearly in the growing number of species being found in the markets. “In the past few months, we have found several new species, particularly of parrots and songbirds,” Hartoyo said. He estimates about 400 species are being traded regularly. Rosek Nursahid, the director of KSBK, said Indonesians just don & #8217;t worry about the rapid depletion of their flora and fauna. He puts a lot of the blame on the government. “In many areas the rangers are corrupt, not brave enough, or they are just not committed to the cause they are paid to be fighting for,” he said. A classic example had occurred a few weeks before when KSBK volunteers arranged to accompany forestry department officials and police on a secret raid of three Jakarta markets. “They kept coming up with new excuses why they couldn & #8217;t go, like not having an available car or needing written authorisation from their bosses.” The result was an unmitigated failure. “The traders had been tipped off beforehand, so we didn & #8217;t find what we were expecting to and no one was arrested.” But it is not the people doing the stealing who are making the profit. “Take a tarsier, for example,” Rosek said. “In the field, they are sold for about 25,000 rupiah (RM11). The local middleman then sells them to a Jakarta trader for about 100,000 rupiah (RM44) and he will get about 300,000 rupiah (RM132) for it. As tarsiers are so small, it is easy to export them and overseas they sell for several hundred US dollars.” Trading protected species is also a booming business, according to Rosek. KSBK reckons the total value of protected species sold illegally in Indonesia in 1996 was about 2.8 billion rupiah (RM1.2mil). Four years later, it was more than 20 billion (RM8.8mil). “If you think that prices are 100 times more expensive overseas, this business is now worth hundreds of millions of dollars every year,” he said. Rescue centre Thankfully, not all government officials are crooked. One of those trying to make a difference is Yunus Makasau, who runs Jakarta & #8217;s first government animal rescue centre, which was built with a donation from the international Gibbon Foundation and officially opened last February. It contains two aviaries, one primarily for birds of prey and the other for parrots and cockatoos, a pond for turtles and fish, and about 20 cages for larger animals. When I visited, there were several black gibbons, three honey bears, a few other monkeys and four orangutans. I accompanied Yunus and his staff on a mission to rescue two orangutans that had been kept openly by a junior worker at a nearby steel plant. It demonstrated clearly why people want to keep endangered species & #8211; and particularly orangutans & #8211; as pets, how badly treated most of the animals are and how the owners can get away with it. When we arrived at Afro Pacific Indo Steel, we found Lucky and Lulu imprisoned in a cage that measured about 1m x 1m x 1.5m. They were both about 60cm high. Like inquisitive children, they grabbed at people who came within reach and took special interest in cameras and watches. Their bright red fur & #8211; meaning they originated in Sumatra rather than Borneo & #8211; sparkled in the sunlight but their bodies were clearly emaciated. “They are about four to five years old but look several years younger,” Yunus said. They had been bought by one of the factory workers about two years earlier and kept at the plant. As with many wild animal owners, this one, a man named Edi, got bored with them, so when he moved to another job in January, he just sealed the cage and left them there. They had not left their prison since. But compared with many wild animals kept legally in Indonesia, their confinement was a virtual palace. In a report released last year, KSBK and the international World Society for the Protection of Animals condemned Indonesian zoos as being some of the most cruel and inhumane in the world. Virtually all fail to provide the most basic of facilities, such as cages big enough “to accommodate the basic biological and behavioural needs of the animals” or sufficient water. Perancak Park on Bali was cited as the worst and worthy of immediate closure. Examples of conditions there included a pig-tailed macaque living in a cage so small it could not lie down and seven clearly malnourished lions, some chained at the neck, squashed into cages less than 2.8sq.m. Perhaps used to seeing wild animals kept in lousy conditions, the staff at Afro Pacific were spurred into action only after watching Lucky and Lulu degenerate in their tiny jail for several weeks. “We saw Yunus on the TV rescuing the orangutans from the zoo, so we decided to contact him,” said Leong, a marketing officer. He could not explain why no one had reported the orangutans & #8217; owner, Edi, to the police earlier. Yunus, who has been beaten up by less welcoming owners and traders on several occasions, said the factory staff would not be prosecuted. “Our policy is that we do nothing when people hand the animals over voluntarily,” he said. “After all, the most important thing is to get the animals back and to encourage people to give them back. But if we have to take them back by force, then we prosecute whoever we can.” An hour later, Lucky and Lulu were enjoying a nourishing meal of tomatoes, corn on the cob, cucumber and lettuce leaves back at the rehabilitation centre & #8211; two of the fortunate few that had survived the clutches of the merciless poachers, traders and pet owners. “Hopefully they & #8217;ll last longer in the wild next time round,” Yunus said. & #8211; Guardian Newspapers Limited<p> ________________________ Your one-stop information portal: The Star Online http://thestar.com.my http://biz.thestar.com.my http://classifieds.thestar.com.my http://cards.thestar.com.my http://search.thestar.com.my http://star-motoring.com http://star-space.com http://star-jobs.com http://star-ecentral.com http://star-techcentral.com 1995-2002 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Star Publications is prohibited. 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