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Environment Watch: Zoo urged to stop admitting new animals
The government has been urged to issue a policy prohibiting zoos from taking in more animals without considering the availability of the space left to accommodate them
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T
he government has been urged to issue a policy prohibiting zoos from taking in more
animals without considering the availability of the space left to accommodate them.
An NGO focusing on protected animals, ProFauna Indonesia, sees such a regulation is necessary to minimize the deaths of animals due to sickness, starvation or stressful conditions stemming from management failure at zoos.
ProFauna’s chairman Rosek Nursahid said the recommendation was proposed after Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan took over the management of Surabaya Zoo (KBS) in East Java from the old management due to its failure.
“We recommend the government issue as soon as possible the policy that stops the KBS from admitting new animals to the zoo,” Rosek said.
The ministry was forced to take over the zoo’s management because no improvements had been made since early this year, leading to the deaths of 689 animals between 2008 and 2009.
Since February this year, 26 animals, including a Sumatran tiger and a lion, died of old age and poor facilities.
Most deaths in the zoo, home to 4,200 animals of 315 species, were blamed on various illnesses, such as pneumonia, enteritis, malnutrition and deteriorating facilities.
Rosek said there was no way that the KBS area could be expanded, meaning there is no possibility for zoo management to add more animals.
He suggested the KBS management repaired the damaged enclosures to ensure proper care for animals.
He said the enclosures for the Silvery Gibbon, for example, emanate the animals’ natural habitat.
“What we have in the KBS is not like that. The enclosure for the Silvery Gibbon is made of cement and stone. This stresses the animals, makes them sick and the result is that they die,” Rosek said.
ProFauna, however, does not recommend what organization will best manage the KBS, arguing that the most important thing was they genuinely care about the animal’s welfare.
He said the recommendations would not just apply to the KBS but other zoos as well.
Research conducted by ProFauna between 2000 and 2010 shows that most zoo management in Indonesia does not apply an acceptable animal welfare standard.
“They focus more on the business side, on how to attract as many as visitors as possible,” Rosek said.
