TheJakartaPost
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Your letters: Markets of death, silent forests
Protected species: Two police officers display a macaw and a chicken that were confiscated along with a machete, a knife and deer antlers from a passenger during a raid aboard the Awu passenger ship in Benoa, Bali, on June 23, 2015
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Protected species: Two police officers display a macaw and a chicken that were confiscated along with a machete, a knife and deer antlers from a passenger during a raid aboard the Awu passenger ship in Benoa, Bali, on June 23, 2015.(JP/Zul Trio Anggono) (JP/Zul Trio Anggono)
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span class="inline inline-center">Protected species: Two police officers display a macaw and a chicken that were confiscated along with a machete, a knife and deer antlers from a passenger during a raid aboard the Awu passenger ship in Benoa, Bali, on June 23, 2015.(JP/Zul Trio Anggono)
Last month 2,400 songbirds were saved by the East Java Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), only to die a short time later in their hands from neglect.
Last week 400 birds were confiscated in Merak, Banten. They, too, are likely to die from neglect. It's all so unnecessary and avoidable, but the BKSDA is adamant it knows best, when in fact it knows nothing. Offers of help are brushed aside.
On any day of the week wildlife markets in Jakarta will have tens of thousands of once-wild birds for sale, illegally, in tiny cages, often without food or water.
Multiply that number by the hundreds of other markets throughout Indonesia selling wildlife, and you should begin to get a feel for the magnitude of this totally unsustainable trade ' about 90 percent of which is illegal.
During the capture and transportation of wild birds, it is known a great many die. In the course of a year the mortality rate will be in the high tens of thousands.
One researcher reported recently on his shock at the silence of a forest he had visited. There were no birds, so no birdsong. Mammals were also not seen.
Despite scientific reports warning of the catastrophic impact this highly illegal trade is having on wild populations, Forestry and Environment Minister Siti Nurabaya appears to be uncaring and reluctant to see the law enforced.
President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo is no stranger to bird markets. In fact, he happens to be a good customer, buying illegally captured birds from criminals.
Indonesia is facing an almost total extermination of all its wildlife. With so many forests already gone, sold to the highest bidder, what will future generations think of this President?
What will you say, if asked 'why did you not do something while there was still time to save our wild birds, animals and their forest homes?'
Unless the law is immediately enforced and wildlife markets, starting in Jakarta, closed down, there is no future for Indonesia's wildlife.
Sean Whyte
Nature Alert CEO
