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Jakarta’s avian mascot loses only refuge in city
The Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN) that operates a rehabilitation center for brahminy kite on Kotok Besar Island in Thousand Islands regency has moved the birds to a riverine ecosystem in Lampung as the island owner reportedly sold the island.
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A brahminy kite is seen on July 10, 2022, in the Faunaland conservation area at the Ancol Dreamland Park in North Jakarta. (Shutterstock/Wisnu Kusuma)
J
akarta is losing its iconic brahminy kite as its only sanctuary in the city, located on an island in the Thousand Islands regency has been closed and moved to Lampung after the island’s owner reportedly sold the island.
The rehabilitation center for the kite, which is locally known as elang bondol, in Kotok Besar Island, first opened in 2004 by animal rights group Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN), had to close up shop in late April and moved around 40 birds to a riverine ecosystem in Lampung.
“The owner of Kotok Besar wants to sell [the island], so we have to move,” JAAN cofounder Femke den Haas told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Lampung was chosen because it has the ecosystem the bird needs to forage on fish and insects in wetlands. But the new site is nothing like Kotok Besar, as claimed by den Haas.
“They will also thrive [there],” she said. “But I’ve been working with these birds for more than 20 years, and small islands [are better].”
When JAAN first opened the sanctuary, it took care of eight birds rescued from illegal traders. Kotok Besar Island in Thousand Islands was picked as it has mangrove forests; a perfect place for the carnivorous bird that often nests on trees near a body of water.
For more than 20 years, the group and conservation authorities have released more than 100 birds on the island.
