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ogyakarta'€™s Gembira Loka Zoo, one of the country'€™s oldest zoos, is set to join hands with several zoos in Indonesia and abroad to launch an animal-exchange initiative to expand its animal collection and to strengthen conservation breeding programs, a senior government official has said.

Speaking recently during a visit to the zoo, the Environment and Forestry Ministry'€™s director for conservation and biodiversity, Bambang Dahono Aji, said the ministry had granted the zoo management an official permit to initiate the animal-exchange program

The ministry, according to Bambang, has also encouraged other local zoos to initiate a similar program in an attempt to expand their functions, not only as animal collection exhibitors but also as conservation institutions. '€œAfter a successful breeding program, animals will be released into their natural habitats,'€ Bambang said.

To start its animal-exchange program with local zoos, the Gembira Loka Zoo will work with Cikembulan Zoo, in Garut, West Java, and Ragunan Zoo in Jakarta.

Currently, the Yogyakarta zoo has three female leopards while the leopards in Cikembulan and Ragunan are all males.

'€œThey will exchange their leopards so they can have both male and female leopards,'€ Bambang said.

Among other zoos that have expressed an interest in support Gembira Loka'€™s initiative are Singapore Zoo and a Korean zoo. '€œThe Gembira Loka Zoo will receive a lion from Singapore and they will also cooperate in a lion-conservation breeding program,'€ he said.

With the Korean zoo, Bambang said Gembira Loka would exchange one of its animals for a rare crocodile locally known as a senyulong.

'€œDetails of the animal exchange process are still being discussed,'€ he said.

Gembira Loka Zoo opened in 1933 and has been developed over the decades. The zoo occupies some 14 hectares of land, 5 hectares of which are allocated for a botanical garden. It serves as the lungs of the city and has hundreds of forest plants including rare types. The zoo accommodates some 1,800 animals of around 300 species.

Throughout 2014, the zoo attracted 1.7 million visitors, a 16 percent increase from the 1.5 million visits recorded the year before.

During his field visit to Gembira Loka, Bambang was accompanied by the zoo'€™s president director, KMT A Tirtodiprojo, Ragunan Zoo supervising council member Danny Gunalen and representatives from several Indonesian zoos.

Danny said Ragunan Zoo was interested in supporting the animal-exchange initiative.

'€œThis program will not only support our conservation efforts but also help the public gain better knowledge. Indonesians will be able to see animals from every corner of the globe without traveling abroad,'€ he said.

Tirtodiprojo said the cooperation would also help operators of the participating zoos to exchange and expand their knowledge of zoo management.

He, however, stressed that zoo operators must also have competent human resources to oversee the animal-exchange initiative and particularly its breeding program.

'€œWe must do it very carefully. We don'€™t want to see animals shipped for the program receiving the wrong treatment simply because the zookeepers do not have enough knowledge about the species,'€ he said, adding that Gembira Loka had already prepared well-trained staff to take care of animals sent by its partner zoos.