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Osama, retiring at Surabaya Zoo
Osama, a 17-year-old male African lion and one of six lions at the Surabaya Zoological Garden, East Java, is the living proof that men are crueler than beasts
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sama, a 17-year-old male African lion and one of six lions at the Surabaya Zoological Garden, East Java, is the living proof that men are crueler than beasts.
Old king: Osama, a 17-year-old lion, sits in its cage in the Surabaya zoo, Surabaya. A number of animals are said to have died because they were neglected as a result of a management dispute in one of the largest zoos in Indonesia.
The lion has been lying, paralyzed, in a three-by-four-meter cage for three years now.
Before being caged at the Surabaya zoo, Osama used to live in a villa owned by Gunawan Santoso — who was sentenced to death for murdering the president director of PT Asaba, Budiarto Angsono — along with dozens of other wild animals like Sumatran tigers and crocodiles, in Sukabumi, West Java.
In 2003, the Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) seized Osama as well as the other protected animals belonging to Gunawan and left them at the Wildlife Rescue Center (PPS) of Cikananga, Cisitu village, Nyalindung district, Sukabumi, for one year.
Budiharto, spokesman for PPS-Cikananga, said Osama was in very poor health upon arriving at the rescue center.
Its fangs had already been removed and the beast bore bruises caused by sharp objects on several parts of its body. Osama had also lost its hunting instinct.
“When Osama was found, it was skinny as it hadn’t been fed for several weeks,” Budiharto told The Jakarta Post. After one year at PPS-Cikananga, Osama was moved to the Surabaya Zoo (KBS), in much better health.
Osama later became one of the stud lions at KBS, siring four cubs, now also among the zoo’s potential breeders.
In 2007, a zoo executive, Basuki Reksi Wibowo, said wild animals like lions and white tigers from the KBS were allegedly being sold from KBS to Singkawang, West Kalimantan, and shipped away under the leadership of Stany Soebakir.
The conflict climaxed, with Stany’s camp rejecting Basuki’s allegations. In the meantime, Osama hardly moved in his cage, as he suffered from paralysis.
In 2008, two cheetahs, which had just arrived at the zoo in 2007 as gifts from South African President Thabo Mbeki, died after Bengali tigers — released so they could mate — attacked them.
A total of 362 wild animals died in 2008 and 327 in 2009. From June to August 2010, 20 other animals at the zoo succumbed to diseases, including Sumatra tigers and 13 baby komodo dragons.
Most deaths were caused by pneumonia, diarrhea and malnutrition. Other animals died because of the squalid conditions they lived in and inadequate food.
The protracted conflict has failed to change the fate of Osama. Today, the beast lies helpless, like a toothless lion.
While confined to the cage as an aged beast, Osama is fed by Supadi, who also takes care of tigers, cheetahs and Osama’s offspring.
Before working with KBS in 1990, Supadi was herding cattle in his village in Nganjuk, East Java. When he first joined KBS, Supadi worked as a zoo cleaner.
— Photos By JP/Indra Harsaputra
