Jakarta Globe, Vento Saudale, Feb 08, 2015
In this file photo taken on April 17, 2013, an ailing critically endangered Sumatran tiger named Melani is fed from an enclosure at the Surabaya Zoo. (AFP Photo/Juni Kriswanto) |
Pasuruan,
East Java. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry has given the management of
the vast majority of Indonesian zoos a piece of its mind, saying there are only
four decent wildlife parks throughout the archipelago.
Indonesia
currently has 58 registered zoos, but 54 of them are either deemed improper by
the government or are not yet officially accredited.
Bambang
Dahono Adji, the ministry’s director for conservation, said that only half of
the nation’s zoos had gone through the accreditation process, and that most
failed to make the cut.
“Out of
those 29 zoos, only 4 received the A-grade, meaning they are decent and
appropriate,” he said on Saturday. “While the others were given Grade B [less
than decent] or C [bad].”
The four
zoos that do make the grade are Taman Safari Cisarua in West Java, Taman Safari
Pasuruan in East Java, Taman Safari Gianyar in Bali, and Sea World in Jakarta.
The
accreditation process is conducted once every five years by representatives
from the government, veterinarians and other experts who look at animal
welfare, animal death rates and the zoo’s facilities, among other things.
“We will
evaluate from time to time whether [a park's] accreditation result gets better
or worse,” Bambang said. “It’s possible for a Grade-A zoo to get a lower grade
in its next accreditation. For those with Grade C, if they don’t get their act
together, the ministry will recommend that their license be revoked.”
Bambang
admitted that state-run zoos have been performing poorly, but he said he
expected plenty of improvement in the near future, as the government has been
investing in human resources.
Surabaya
Zoo is the most notorious wildlife park in the country, for its high rate of
animal deaths.
The zoo
lost its permit in 2010 over a tug-of-war over control of the zoo by the
previous management. The management fiasco resulted in the massive neglect of
the animals and dozens of deaths, including of critically endangered species,
and the loss of some animals suspected to have been sold into the illegal
wildlife trade. But Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini in August last year
announced major changes in the running of the zoo.
Before the
mayor stepped in, a lion was found strangled to death in its enclosure after
getting tangled in a cable that was hanging loose near its door. And in 2012,
the zoo’s only giraffe was found dead with a 20-kilogram ball of plastic trash
in its stomach. The plastic was believed to have accumulated from trash thrown
into the giraffe’s enclosure by visitors. There was also a case in 2011 of
three baby Komodo dragons going missing — presumably sold into the illegal
wildlife trade.
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