-- --------- Forwarded Message --------- DATE: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 11:10:47 From: "fitri" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <undisclosed-recipients:;> Sent: Friday, December 01, 2000 10:18 AM Subject: Environment-Indonesia: Orangutan Trade Destroying Species > Inter Press Service > November 29, 2000 > > ENVIRONMENT-INDONESIA: ORANGUTAN TRADE DESTROYING SPECIES > > By Richel Dursin > > Jakarta, > > Animal rights activists are lauding a current crackdown on the illegal > trade > in orangutans in Indonesia, but they say authorities must now start > putting offenders in jail to show that the government is really serious about > protecting the endangered primates. > > While a few arrests have been made in recent months, activists note that > not > one trader or buyer of orangutans has landed behind bars yet. > > This is despite Indonesia's 1990 conservation of the biodiversity and > ecosystem act, which says a person keeping or trading protected species such > as > orangutans should be sent to jail for five years or pay a fine of 100 million > rupiahs (now about $ 10,000). > > Just recently, authorities caught a student at a private university > selling a > two-year-old orangutan for three million rupiahs ($ 319). > > Much fanfare also accompanied the arrest last August of a bird trader who > was > trying to sell a baby orangutan to an activist posing as a Western tourist. > > "Selling orangutans is a crime because they are protected and endangered > species," says Chairul Saleh, senior project officer of World Wide Fund (WWF) > Indonesia. But he adds, "We have to set a precedent so the people will stop > trading or keeping orangutans." > > Orangutans are found solely on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. In 1993, > there were about 25,000 of them in Indonesia. Today, authorities say, the > orangutan population has dwindled to just 12,000. > > The rampant illegal trade in the animals is one of the major reasons for > this. Indeed, some sellers even advertise openly in the papers. In Pramuka > market in East Jakarta, meanwhile, baby orangutans are being sold from 2 > million > to 3 million rupiahs ($ 212 to $ 319) each. > > But Samedi, head of the trade and traffic wildlife control sub-directorate > of > the forestry ministry, says, "The illegal trade of orangutans in Indonesia is > very difficult and complicated. It is like the trade of illegal drugs." > > "Orangutan traders in the black market are clever," he adds. "When we are > there, they don't sell the animals, but when we are no longer there, that is > the > time they sell." > > The buyers come mostly from middle-upper class families, including > politicians and military officials, who cage the animals as pets. The forestry > ministry has also reported that timber exporters illegally ship orangutans out > of the country to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan. > > "By keeping the orangutans as pets, the people think they are protecting > them, but in fact they are not," Saleh says. "They have a wrong idea about > animal conservation." > > Activists say that the economic crisis has exacerbated the problem, with > poachers increasing efforts to get their hands on baby orangutans. This almost > always means killing the mothers first, say experts. > > "Behind every one of those pets, you see the ghost of their mothers," says > Kathryn Monk, a British researcher who has spent five years on the development > program of the Gunung-Leuser National Park in North Sumatra. > > Female orangutans mate just once every eight years. Experts say mother > orangutans would rather give up their lives than one of their offspring. > > "When people want to have a baby orangutan, they should kill the mother > first," says Saleh. "So, it means if you see a single baby orangutan being > traded, one adult female orangutan has been killed." > > Experts note that adult female orangutans are found at higher densities > than > adult males, and are thus more likely targets of hunters. > > Fortunately, activists report that the campaign against the illegal trade > of > orangutans is now gaining support from some celebrities like popular child > singer Sherina Munaf who stars in a film focusing on the smuggling of > orangutans > from Indonesia to Osaka, Japan. > > The film, being produced by WWF to raise public awareness on orangutan > conservation, documented the journey of four orangutans smuggled to Japan > through Bali and their trip back to the forest in East Kalimantan. > > The four orangutans, already being sold in a pet shop in Japan, were > brought > back to Indonesia last February by authorities and animal rights activists. > Admits Samedi: "Some government officials connive with wildlife smugglers to > augment their salary." > > There have been cases, however, in which the government officials simply > did > not know that the orangutans happen to be endangered or are a protected > species. > This has prompted the WWF to put together a manual to help officials > distinguish > which animals are endangered or protected. > > Saleh remarks, "The police, customs and immigration officials don't have > enough knowledge about wildlife." > > But it is not just the illegal trade that is menacing the orangutans in > particular. Habitat loss, mainly due to illegal logging and forest fires, has > also endangered the lives of the primates. > > Nowadays, illegal logging outstrips legal timber production. According to a > recent report by the Indonesia-UK Tropical Forest Management Program, illegal > logging accounts for 32 million cubic meters of timber every year, compared > with > an official production of 29.5 million cubic meters. This is equivalent to > 800,000 hectares of forest being illegally logged each year. > > "Our forest is dying a painful death," says Longgena Ginting, campaign > coordinator of the non-governmental Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi). > "The > root of the problem is the extraordinary increase in the capacity of the > national logging industry." > > For a long time now, fires of varying magnitude have been a common > occurrence > in the Indonesian forests. Every year, thousands of hectares are burned down > by > local farmers, spurred by foreign multinationals, to satisfy international > demand for wood and make space for more profitable palm oil plantations and > rice > fields. > > "Rampant forest destruction prompts many orangutans to flee from the > forests > and seek refuge in rehabilitation centers," Saleh says. For instance, there > are > now some 400 orangutans at the Wanariset Samboja rehabilitation center in East > Kalimantan. In 1996, the center played host to just 100 orangutans. > > Experts say the widespread deforestation is having a serious impact not > only > on the animals, but also on the local farmers as hungry orangutans go to the > fields and eat their crops. --------- End Forwarded Message --------- Get FREE Email/Voicemail with 15MB at Lycos Communications at http://comm.lycos.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mulai langganan: kirim e-mail ke [EMAIL PROTECTED] Stop langganan: kirim e-mail ke [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archive ada di http://www.mail-archive.com/envorum@ypb.or.id
