Officials raid illegal circus, rescue animals.

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Officials raid illegal circus, rescue animals.

 

02/04/2003

Jakarta Post

P5

© 2003 The Jakarta Post

 

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

 

A ranger carefully shot a tranquilizer dart into a restless leopard.

After fifteen minutes, it was sedated, making it possible for other

rangers to move the gigantic cat from its small cage to a spacious one.

The drama did not take place at the leopard's native home in Africa, but

here in Jakarta at a makeshift mini circus on Jl. Buaran I in Rawa

Badung hamlet, Cakung, East Jakarta, at the far end of Pulogadung

Industrial Estate.

 

Tipped off by non-governmental organization ProFauna Indonesia, which

deals with wild animals and the protection of their natural habitat,

officers of the Coordinating Body for Natural Resources Protection

(BKSDA) at the Ministry of Forestry raided the circus last week.

 

Involving Jakarta Police detectives in the raid, the officers rescued 11

endangered animals of different species: the leopard (Panthera pardus),

a Burmese python (Python molurus) known locally as sanca bodo, and an

Asiatic black bear.

 

The raid also saved two black long-tailed monkeys or lutung, a

yellow-crested cockatoo, a golden eagle, a porcupine, a squirrel, an

Estuarine crocodile, and a large crocodile indigenous to the rivers of

Papua, known as the Sungulok crocodile.

 

The animals, which are protected under Law No. 5/1990 on biodiversity

conservation, have been temporarily moved to the Animal Rescue Unit

(PPA) in Tegal Alur, West Jakarta, before the government finds new homes

for the animals.

 

The police detectives of the special unit for animal protection took the

circus owner, snake charmer Kirsadik who calls himself Bidut Sableng, to

their headquarters for an interrogation. Bidut said that he had licenses

to own and to make a profit from the animals.

 

" But these licenses are invalid, " said Putu, one of the police

detectives.

 

The 1990 law stipulates that a person who possesses or keeps

endangered/protected animals, dead or alive, and/or parts of

endangered/protected animals, are subject to a maximum five-year jail

term and Rp 100 million (US$11,235) in fines.

 

The government once issued a ministerial decree in 1991 which allowed

citizens to harbor endangered/protected animals temporarily, in an

effort to ease the government burden in registering their numbers. The

decree was revoked one year after in was enacted.

 

Although harboring or keeping the animals is now a criminal offense, it

is widely publicized that many prominent people, such as high-ranking

armed forces officers, businesspeople and well-known artists have

private miniature zoos in their backyards.

 

Moreover, despite rising cases, the smuggling of endangered/protected

animals has yet to be handled seriously. The smuggling of

endangered/protected animals is now rated the second biggest crime in

the country after drugs and arms smuggling.

 

The rescued animals, according to coordinator of ProFauna's Jakarta

chapter Hardi Baktiantoro, are in very poor condition. The bear is

suffering smallpox, while the monkeys are traumatized, as evidenced by

self-inflicted injuries.

 

Other animals in the circus, such as a large monitor lizard, pig-tailed

macaques, long-tailed monkeys, a goat with five feet, a rooster with

three feet and a Persian cat, are also in poor condition. However, Bidut

denied neglecting the animals.

 

" I'm not a bad person. I spend Rp 400,000 per day to feed them goat

meat. But this business is not so profitable. I'm just earning a living

by putting the animals on exhibition. I'm not selling them, " he told

reporters.

 

The circus, which charged each visitor a Rp 2,000 entrance fee, had been

in operation for only a week. A resident, Idi Muhamad, said nobody ever

visited the circus.

 

" But we know that Bidut has been in this business for a long, long

time, " he said.

 

Copyright 2003 The Jakarta Post.

 

 

 

Folder Name: Asia Conservation Leopard

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