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Jakarta Post

Dozens of stalls in Surakarta zoo damaged: Official

Ganug Nugroho Adi (The Jakarta Post)
Surakarta, Central Java
Tue, April 12, 2016

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Dozens of stalls in Surakarta zoo damaged: Official  Poorly treated – A hippo walks around its poorly maintained stall at the Taru Jurug Animal Park (TSTJ) Surakarta, Central Java. About 90 percent of the stalls in the park are damaged. (thejakartapost.com/Ganug Nugroho Adi)

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ore than 90 percent of stalls in the Taru Jurug Animal Park (TSTJ) in Surakarta, Central Java, are damaged, putting animals in the zoo at a greater risk of health problems.  

The TSTJ management said it could not afford to repair stalls in the park as its operations depended solely on revenues from entrance tickets, entertainment and parking fees.

It also claimed that a Rp 5 billion (US$381,000) capital injection promised by the Surakarta administration had not yet happened.

“In line with a bylaw on the building of the TSTJ Surakarta, the Surakarta administration is required to make a capital injection. Last year, it promised to give us Rp 5 billion, but until now it has not yet been realized,” TSTJ Surakarta president director Bimo Wahyu Widodo Dasir Santoso said on Monday.

He said the capital injection funds actually could be used to further develop the TSTJ Surakarta, to organize the zoo area, and to repair the stalls, which he deemed urgent.

The Taru Jurug Zoo is a province-owned company. Only four of around 70 stalls in the zoo, which is located on the banks of the Bengawan Solo River, are still in good condition.

Bimo said the TSTJ management had a plan to move all the animal stalls that were now located in the back part of the zoo to areas not far from the entrance so that once visitors entered the zoo, they could directly enjoy the collection of animals. The capital injection was needed to help management realize the plan, he added.  

“Currently, all visitors must first walk about two kilometers before they can enjoy our animals. Hopefully, the Surakarta administration can realize its capital injection promise in the 2016 regional budget,” said Bimo.

Not only are stalls poorly maintained, but many supporting facilities, such as an artificial lake in the middle of the park, are not in good condition. The lake’s water is very dirty and smells bad, making visitors feel uncomfortable staying in its vicinity. Overall, the animal park, which opened in 1983, looks very dirty.

Heavily damaged – A visitor stands beside a crocodile stall, which is heavily damaged, at the Taru Jurug Animal Park (TSTJ) Surakarta, Central Java. Only four of about 70 stalls in the park are still in good condition. (thejakartapost.com/Ganug Nugroho Adi)

The park’s veterinarian, Tiara Deby Carinda, said the TSTJ Surakarta had 263 animals in 54 species. Those animals were kept in 70 stalls, she added.

“Only four of the 70 stalls are still in good condition. They are the elephant, lion and orangutan stalls. Other stalls need to be repaired,” said Tiara.

She said all animals in the park were in a normal condition despite their poor stalls. However, the veterinarian said she could not guarantee that they would stay healthy in the longer term if their stalls were not immediately repaired.

“All animals in the TSTJ are specially handled because most of them are protected species. We have always monitored the health of the animals every day,” said Tiara.

Separately, Surakarta Mayor FX Hadi “Rudy” Rudyatmo said he had asked the Regional Development Planning Board (Bappeda) and the Surakarta administration regional secretariat’s economic division to prepare the funds.

The mayor said the Surakarta administration must provide the Rp 5 billion capital injection mandated by the TSTJ bylaw. The funds were needed to further develop the company.

“All this time, the administration could not afford to give the funds because of our limited budget, but we have proposed for them to be included in this year’s budget because the capital injection is really needed for the management of the animal park,” said Rudy. (ebf)

 

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