The State of the Ark - Zoos in Indonesia

Author: Ian Singleton

Source: The Jakarta Post, Medan | Mon, 03/26/2012 8:04 AM


The Jakarta Post recently reported the death of a giraffe at Surabaya Zoo, found to have ingested 20 kg of plastic. This is extremely tragic, but of course by no means surprising in Indonesia’s zoos, given the appalling way they are managed.

As a former zoo keeper myself in the UK, what is clear to me is that the vast majority of zoos in Indonesia hardly pay any attention whatsoever to investing in their zoo and instead see them only as potential revenue generators.

A good example is the so-called Medan Zoo in North Sumatra. For many years this occupied just a few tree-shaded hectares within the city itself and despite its poor and insanitary conditions, a number of animals somehow managed to survive there for several years. Nevertheless, they were subjected to voluminous decibels of dangdut just outside their cage every weekend and public holidays, and a barrage of peanuts were thrown at them every day.

On public holidays, more than 20,000 visitors would visit and almost all would throw copious numbers of peanuts at the animals during the day. Not exactly a nutritious balanced diet.

In its wisdom, the Medan municipality eventually decided to move the zoo to a large area of open, mostly tree-less land on the edge of the city. It was then reported that around 60 percent of the animals died during or after being transferred to the new site, built hurriedly, poorly designed and with little thought to providing shelter from the sun or rain, or clean water supplies to any of the animals.

A few survivors did manage to hang on, but could be clearly seen hiding in the few shady areas, gasping due to the heat and dehydration. The standard of care was also extremely poor. A small clinic building had no drugs or equipment, and not even the tools to anesthetize animals properly. Food was inadequate, generally handed out in the mornings, and left there all day.

All in all, Medan is the only place I know of in the world that has built a new zoo even worse than the old one! What gets me most though, is that managing a zoo is not rocket science. Many animals will survive and even breed if simply given a safe and sheltered enclosure, clean drinking water, and adequate nutrition. But just how possible is it to improve facilities and diets when entrance fees are so disgracefully low?

I have heard many times how admission prices for zoos and other recreation sites are deliberately kept low so that everyone is able to benefit from them. Sure, but the old Medan Zoo cost about Rp 2,000 to enter 10 years ago and even the new one is just a little over Rp 5,000 (US 55 cent) today. With admission prices less than half the cost of a becak (pedicab) or a decent nasi bungkus (meal), I think they could easily be quadrupled and still everyone would be able to visit a few times each year. And that might even allow zoo managers to reinvest some of the takings on their assets, their facilities and their animals.

I am sure too, that given the incredible wealth of the Indonesian “elite” and how they love to have their names displayed in public places, that any zoo showing a genuine commitment to improving, by putting some of its own money back in, could quickly begin to tap the large numbers of rich potential philanthropists around these days, to sponsor their animals and new exhibits. But they would indeed have to prove they were serious before most private individuals or corporations even consider putting any money into them, or having their names associated.

Indonesia’s zoos also continue to be a drain on Indonesia’s incredibly rich wildlife. With only one or two notable exceptions, I would wager that almost all of their animals were born in the wild. This is in sharp contrast to western zoos, were with a few exceptions, most notably for conservation purposes, almost none are wild born these days.

If animals do breed in Indonesian zoos, they frequently die young, due to the poor nutrition they and their mothers receive and the insanitary and unsuitable conditions in which they are kept.

Zoos here, therefore, still tend to either buy their animals on the market (often illegally) or request them from the Forestry’s Ministry conservation department (PHKA), for example if they have been captured due to human wildlife conflicts or confiscated as illegal pets or in trade.

But why, in 2012, should this still need to be the case? Why aren’t Indonesia’s zoos breeding the animals themselves and exchanging them with other zoos, as do most zoos in the rest of the world? Is it because they’re too greedy to invest in their animals and keep them healthy enough to breed and rear their offspring to adulthood? Or is it just far too easy to replace them when they die?

At this point I must also mention the fact that there has been, since 1969, an Indonesian Zoo Association (PKBSI). But what does it do? It doesn’t even have a formal website, just a blogspot, with hardly any information on its goals and mission, or on Indonesia’s many zoos, as you might expect. What role does it play in encouraging Indonesia’s zoos to improve?

I once worked in Jersey Zoo (now Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust), one of the world’s best zoos; not best because it is bigger or more beautiful, or makes more money than others, but because it has a genuine mission to save endangered species. It was established in the late 1950s by well-known author Gerald Durrell with conservation as its primary function, and funds raised for many endangered species rescue projects all over the world.

Jersey Zoo has since had numerous major successes, among them saving the pink pigeon, echo parakeet and Mauritius kestrel, all down to just a tiny number of individuals (in some cases just three or four females and a few males) a few decades ago, but now numbering in their hundreds once again in the wild due to captive breeding and managed reintroduction programs.

Enough is enough I think. In 2012 we should be able to evaluate the role of zoos in Indonesia, to close down the bad ones and encourage the better ones to get even better. But this will never happen if their owners and managers see them only as a source of extra pocket money.

For the sake of the animals and the visiting public, start charging sensible entry fees and start reinvesting some of the revenue, then perhaps you will get even more support and encouragement from those that are able, and almost certainly willing to help. But only if you can first show you are serious about it!

Dr. Ian Singleton is the Director of Conservation, PanEco Foundation, and principal conservation advisor to Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari in Indonesia.

RWE is thrilled to announce Dr Singleton will be a VIP Guest Speaker at our special Earth 4 Orangutans event 'Orang A Rock' in Melbourne on 7 September 2012.

Click on the links above to find out more!

Rescuing Orangutans in Aceh

Author: Hotli Simanjuntak
Source: The Jakarta Post, Aceh Tamiang, Aceh | Fri, 02/17/2012 9:53 AM

Photo - Moving: An evacuation team examines a newly caught orangutan. The animals that are rescued are frequently found skinny and malnourished.

One morning, an orangutan evacuation team arrived in a hilly area with only a few rubber trees left in Aceh Tamiang.

The 15-member team from the Leuser Ecosystem Management Agency (BPKEL), the Sumatra Orangutan Conservation Program (SOCP), the Orangutan Information Center (OIC) and the Aceh Orangutan Forum (FORA) was walking on red soil newly leveled for plantations.

The red land, cleared of rubber trees by workers of PT Bahruny, an estate company owned by Oil Palm Business Association (GAPKI) chair Joefly J Bahroeny, is located in Rimba Sawang village, Aceh Tamiang, bordering North Sumatra.

Atop an almost dead rubber tree was an orangutan and its one-year-old offspring, sitting and basking in the morning sun.

Their long, golden brown hair was in sharp contrast to their skinny bodies due to undernourishment.

“These orangutans were trapped in this location as workers started felling rubber trees for oil palm plants,” said OIC volunteer Krisna Ketapel.

Krisna is a local resident recruited by the OIC, an NGO engaged in watching over and monitoring orangutans emerging from forestland to enter the estates around his village home in Rimba Sawang.

The team’s visit to the plantations was meant to evacuate the orangutans isolated in the location, where only a small number of rubber trees can still be found. The other hills around it were already denuded and converted into circling terraces for oil palm planting.

The presence of orangutans was detected before they were slaughtered by estate workers while leveling the area. “We estimate hundreds of them are still trapped with the widespread land clearing operation for new plantations,” Krisna said.

Krisna has often witnessed orangutans going down to the estates near his village, usually from the protected forest in the Leuser ecosystem zone, only four kilometers from the closest plantations.

Rampant illegal logging and land reclamation for estates are seen as considerably disturbing the habitat of orangutans in the areas adjacent to the Leuser zone. The activity also increases the intensity of conflict between wildlife like tigers and elephants and man.

“In the last two to three years we’ve been informed of the orangutans frequently trapped in estates particularly in Aceh or North Sumatra border areas or asked to evacuate them,” said Ian Singleton, director of the SOCP.

The SOCP is a collaboration between the government and several NGOs like PanEco Switzerland, the Lestari Ecosystem Foundation (YEL) and the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) in Germany, focusing on orangutan conservation in Sumatra and covering orangutan rescue, quarantine and release.

Previously, the SOCP evacuated orangutans from several locations in Aceh and North Sumatra. In addition, it also confiscated protected animals from individuals or orangutans from communities that had domesticated them.

According to Ian Singleton, the opening of estate areas in Aceh Tamiang began in 2005 in the early period of peaceful agreement between the Free Aceh Movement and the Indonesian government. Prior to the accord, land clearing wasn’t so widespread because Aceh was embroiled in armed conflict.

Now, when there’s conflict between animals and men during reclamation, estate owners tend to urge NGOs or environmental activists to intervene by moving or catching the animals without understanding the underlying causes of the problem. Estate companies are even prepared to fund the relocation of trapped orangutans.

“The media has frequently initiated the discourse that estate companies should contact NGOs or authorized agencies when they find orangutans in their land clearing areas for relocation,” noted Singleton. In his view, this is not a desirable solution, nor will it be favorable to the animals concerned. In reality, this method doesn’t much prevent the slaughter of orangutans lost in plantations.

Photo - Evacuation: A government-NGO joint evacuation team rescues newly caught orangutans to be released to the nearest forest suitable for them to live.

“We’re convinced the number of orangutans killed in the process of land clearing has been far bigger than the total rescued, especially in areas where the government and environmental activists find it hard to monitor,” he said. In Aceh Tamiang, there are tens of thousands of hectares of rubber and oil palm estates owned by estate firms and individuals, mostly bordering the Leuser ecosystem – recognized by UNESCO as one of the world’s ecosystems.

The BPKEL managing the zone has revoked estate licenses many times for encroaching on protected forestland within the Leuser ecosystem.

Since 2009, the BPKEL has canceled 26 estate permits for illegal operations in restricted areas, covering 3,700 hectares of oil palm plantations and thousands of hectares of land already cleared but not yet planted.

“The pressure on this conservation zone will be greater and more severe unless strict control is exercised, particularly with the opening of an access road in the area close to Leuser,” said Badrul, conservation manager of the BPKEL. To prevent graver damage and the loss of rare animals’ habitats, this agency has been restoring the original estates and forest areas by replanting them with various trees.

— Photos by Hotli Simanjuntak

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/02/17/rescuing-orangutans-aceh.html

New York Times interviews Director Raw Jess McKelson

Retirement Islands for Orangutans

An innovative plan to create man-made islands for sick and injured orangutans in Indonesia is offering hope of a better life for animals who have previously been destined to spend their remaining days in cages.

While much of the fight to save the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan focuses on protecting their natural habitat, for some orangutans it is already too late.

Environmentalists say they are rescuing a growing number of orangutans that are unable to return to the wild because they are too ill or injured, often the result of coming into contact with humans.

Now, Australian zoo keepers, the Australian Orangutan Project and an eco-tourism company are partnering with an orangutan conservation group in Indonesia to raise money to buy land in Sumatra to create four “islands” where sick and injured orangutans could live in an environment more akin to their natural habitat, with staff on hand to care for them.

The plan is to dig moats around the land, which would prevent the orangutans, which cannot swim, from escaping. The animals can live for up to 50 years.

Four orangutans being cared for by the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program have already been identified as possible residents of the planned islands, said Jessica McKelson, supervisor of the primates department at Melbourne Zoo and founder of Raw WildLife Encounters, the eco-tourism company involved in the project.

Ms. McKelson said one orangutan who could benefit from the project had been shot 62 times after wandering past a village on the edge of a forest. He was left blind after being shot in both eyes, and cannot return to the wild.

“He’s becoming large and mature and he really needs to get out of the cage,” said Ms. McKelson. Another orangutan the organizers hope to relocate has been diagnosed with the human strain of hepatitis B.

But first the organizers must find suitable land for the orangutans and raise money to lease the land.

Ms. McKelson said they hoped to raise 80,000 Australian dollars ($77,432) to lease about three hectares of land near the city of Medan, in north Sumatra. A clean water supply for the orangutans would be crucial.

There are also plans to establish an education center near the site to help teach locals about how they can live in harmony with orangutans, which is Indonesian for “man of the forest”.

Environmental groups blame palm oil and logging companies for encroaching on the animals’ natural habitat, and Ms. McKelson said villagers were increasingly coming into contact with orangutans as a result of deforestation. She said the animals sometimes approached villagers’ fruit trees, which could lead to conflict.

“We will be able to use this as a key education center to educate locals with the orangutans and also educate them about human-animal contact,” said Ms. McKelson, adding that there were an estimated 6,000 Sumatran orangutans left in the wild.

By LIZ GOOCH
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/retirement-islands-for-orangutans/
November 25, 2011, 8:29 AM