Protected animals' trade still rife in Indonesia: Survey
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The illegal trade of protected animals remains rampant, despite relevant institutions carrying out regular raids against such practice, a local media reported in Jakarta on Monday.
Citing to the result of a survey carried out by the Indonesian Pro Fauna and the World Animal Net (WAN), the Jakarta Post reported that East Java province has become the province with the most protected animal trading activities.
Indonesian Pro Fauna Chairman Rosek Nursahid said on Saturday that based on the organization's survey, 70 bird markets in Java had traded protected animal species between May and July this year.
He said that the survey found 183 animals from 25 species of protected animals sold at bird markets there.
The protected animals found in markets also include the coucang, the Javan langur, the eastern tersier, the black eagle and the rhinoceros hornbill.
The survey was conducted at 70 bird markets in 58 cities and regencies across Java showed 14 markets sold capped lorry and cockatoo birds, 21 bird markets sold primates, 11 bird markets sold mammals and 13 bird markets sold raptors, Rosek said.
East Java was noted for being one of the largest markets for protected animal trading. Meanwhile, the Depok bird market in Surakarta, Central Java, has become the largest market for the illegal trade of protected animals, followed by Ambarawa in the same province.
The trading of protected animals in Surabaya, Semarang and Jakarta were conducted under the radar, with seller hiding protected animals in their houses.
Based on Indonesia' s existing law No. 5/1990 on the conservation of natural resources and its ecosystem, protected animal traders could be jailed for five years and fined up to 100 million rupiah (about 10.582 million U.S. dollars).
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