Change Yet to Arrive at the ‘Zoo of Death’

Jakarta Globe, Vanesha Manuturi, January 6, 2014

An orangutan soaks in an artificial river at the Surabaya zoo in Surabaya
on October 10, 2013. (AFP Photo)

In Surabaya, right behind the grand statue of a white shark and a crocodile, lies what international media have nicknamed “the Zoo of Death.”

The Surabaya Zoo, entered the media spotlight a few years ago with the mysterious deaths of an African lion and an Australian kangaroo.

Since then, the largest zoo in Indonesia continues to grab headlines: “Giraffe found dead with 20 kg of plastic in its stomach”; “Sumatran tiger fed formaldehyde-laced meat”; “Three baby Komodo dragons missing.”

British newspaper The Daily Mail recently reported more cases of negligence and cruelty at the zoo.

A young elephant was found with shackles on its hind leg, whose manacles had cut into its flesh, and more than 150 pelicans were seen tightly jammed into one cage. Another elephant had its front and hind legs in chained.

There were 43 animal deaths at the zoo between July and September of last year, according to data acquired by the Jakarta Globe.

“[The Surabaya Zoo case] has been going on for five years. Everybody knows about it, but nothing’s changing,” said Femke den Haas, the founder of Jakarta Animal Aid Network, a local nonprofit dedicated to animal conservation.

In 2010, after an overhaul by the Forestry Ministry, management of the zoo was assigned to the Surabaya City Administration, but active management only started in July 2013.

The city plans to improve the zoo over three years. It has allocated Rp 60 billion ($4.9 million) to the zoo’s management over the next five years, according to a report by Republika.

In response to the Daily Mail’s report, Tri Rismaharini, the mayor of Surabaya, told local media last year that the zoo was improving.

A team from the University of Airlangga last year audited the zoo’s finances and animal inventory. According to Amelia, an officer from the economy and development division of the Surabaya City Administration, their report is now complete.

“Currently, we’re just waiting to present it to the mayor,” Amelia said last Tuesday.

The city had allocated Rp 5 billion for the zoo improvements as of last August.

Animal politics

“[This] is a classic example of what thousands of people already know and what conservation organizations have tried to aid with over the last years,” said Sybelle Foxcroft, the director of Conservation Environmental Education 4 Life (Cee4life) in an email last Thursday.

Cee4life is one of the conservation organizations who has offered aid to the Surabaya Zoo.

The organization assisted in moving a malnourished female tiger called Melani from the Surabaya Zoo to Taman Safari in Bogor.

“Cee4life has been supporting the care of Melani in Taman Safari and she is so much better now than we she was inside Surabaya,” Foxcroft said.

Foxcroft also travelled to Surabaya to meet the mayor last year. The mayor was unavailable at the time, but Foxcroft left a letter with an offer to help.

In her reply to Foxcroft, the mayor thanked Foxcroft for her sympathy, but gave little to no comment about Foxcroft’s offer.

“The mayor has been offered an enormous amount of aid from animal welfare organizations around the world, including Cee4life. However, she has refused all aid,” Foxcroft said.

“It is clearly obvious that numerous animals are dying under horrendous conditions at the zoo, but the mayor continues to ignore it all and pretend that nothing is happening. It is a shocking thing for the world to see.”

The Indonesian Zoo and Aquarium Association, known as PKBSI, said the problems in Surabaya Zoo didn’t just stem from a lack of expertise, but also politics.

“[We] acknowledge what’s going on with the Surabaya Zoo. Our organization has attempted and achieved several changes in improving animal welfare at the zoo, as well as its infrastructure and human resources, but with the mayor of Surabaya’s lack of understanding in conservation or zoo management — and influenced by a private staff that used to work at the zoo — the Surabaya Zoo case became even more complicated,” said Susi Lawati, PKBSI’s secretary in an email last Friday.

PKBSI is a nonprofit organization appointed by the Forestry Ministry in zoo accreditation and monitoring.

Tony Sumampau, the general secretary for PKBSI, was the head of Surabaya Zoo’s temporary management team before the city administration took over.

Tony is also the director of Taman Safari park in Bogor.

The Surabaya City Administration and the Surabaya Zoo have not responded to requests for comment.

The bigger picture

Unfortunately, Surabaya Zoo isn’t the only Indonesian zoo under heavy criticism. Across the archipelago, there have been numerous reports of animal abuse, according to den Haas of JAAN.

“JAAN, Animal Friends Jogja and other animal protection groups in Indonesia receive reports about animal cruelty in parks throughout the country,” she said.

“This [last] week alone, reports and complaints about zoos in Batam, Bukittinggi, Palangkaraya, Lampung’s Bumi Kedaton, and South Jakarta’s Ragunan Zoo — where an orangutan juvenile hung herself — have inundated our office.”

Den Haas pointed to PKBSI, saying that the organization’s members have a conflict of interest since most of them are zoo owners.

Once the government removes PKBSI and implements a new, neutral organization whose sole purpose is animal welfare, Indonesian zoos will have a chance to improve, den Haas said in a telephone interview last Thursday.

“I know it’s a harsh statement, but I believe in it 150 percent, after seeing it for over 10 years – the unwillingness to enforce basic animal welfare regulations,” she added.

Responding to the statement, PKBSI said its accreditation has been approved and praised by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

The organization and the Forestry Ministry have conducted zoo accreditations since 2011 according to standards set by the Southeast Asian Zoo Association.

“There have been 24 zoos under accreditation, some passed excellently, but some are average or lacking – such as the Surabaya Zoo — but there has to be a willingness to change within a set period of time,” according to an email sent by PKBSI on Saturday.

“If those who didn’t pass are unwilling to change, do we shut them down? If we do shut down the Surabaya Zoo, could it become a mall?”

Other than the removal of PKBSI, den Haas mentioned that the government has made a step towards improving animal welfare when it passed five basic animal rights two years ago.

“It just needs to be more detailed,” she said.

Despite bleak media coverage of Indonesian zoos, den Haas is optimistic that there is room for improvement.

“It’s not that Indonesia is not capable, but as long as the wrong people manage, things will never change,” she said.