PRESS RELEASE, 16th of January 2016
Conservationists from the SCORPION FOUNDATION have condemned the government delays that led this week to about 2,400 wild birds having died from neglect in five weeks.
It was on 2nd of December 2015, BKSDA East Java discovered and confiscated 2,711 birds at the port of Tanjung Perak in Surabaya which had been brought by ship from East Kalimantan. The birds had been illegally trapped and were destined for the notorious Pramuka market in Jakarta. http://www.traffic.org/home/2015/12/4/thousands-of-birds-seized-from-east-java-port.html
Of the 2,711 birds confiscated only 208 survived to be released this week back in East Kalimantan.
Marison Guciano, senior investigator with SCORPION said, “It’s a disaster for the birds and BKSDA. We call on President Jokowi to stop buying birds from wildlife markets because the trade in our birds is illegal. We must not have our President encouraging and paying criminals to break our law, can we?”
BKSDA everywhere are facing intense criticism and pressure to enforce the law (see below) protecting wild birds, many of which are in danger of extinction caused by hunters.
Marison Guciano added, “The only way to save our wild birds for future generations to enjoy is to cancel all collecting permits and close the wildlife markets throughout Indonesia - now. If this is not done immediately we risk seeing many birds and animals becoming locally extinct. Can you imagine a forest and sky with no wildlife – because this is a reality facing us all unless our government takes immediate action.”
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NOTES: The annual harvest quotas issued for non-protected native species (which is covered under Decree of the Minister of Forestry Number 447/Kpts-II/2003 concerning the Administration Directive of Harvest and Capture and Distribution of the Specimens of Wild Plant and Animals Species). As no harvest quota has been allocated for birds, other than the capture of small quantities of a few select species for use as breeding stock for commercial breeding operations, it is effectively a zero quota. No one believes captive breeding is supplying all the markets with so many birds. It is impossible to do.
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Photo caption: Birds illegally being sold this week at Pramuka market. Photo: Scorpion.
