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fficials say that a recent rise in the number of scofflaws wanting to buy endangered animals as house pets is hurting efforts to crack down on smuggling of protected species.

According to the Jakarta Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), the Internet was favored by traders of protected species in big cities such as Jakarta, even though the number of endangered animals confiscated from animal markets or ports had not increased significantly.

'Most traders now are using online services because this is difficult for security officers to track,' BKSDA spokesperson Roni Sigop Tobing told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Meanwhile, Yanang Lima, who heads a Forestry Police task force for the agency, said that online sales had hindered their work.

'We have had difficulties in discovering the location of the traders or the meeting points they set to conduct transactions with their clients,' Yanang said.

The Forestry Police was cooperating with the Jakarta Police's Cyber Crimes Unit to trace online animal trading, he added.

Jakarta's international airport and seaport cater to exports and imports, making the capital a strategic hub for trading in exotic local species that have been designated endangered and whose sale has been banned.

Meanwhile, animal rights activists have reported that owning a house pet from an endangered species was growing in popularity in the capital.

The animal with the highest demand, according to Jakarta Animal Aid Network spokesperson Pramudya Harzani, was the slow loris, locally known as the kukang.

Pramudya said that there had been demand for 40 of the nocturnal primates every month this year to date, up from an average of 15 a month last year.

'Many people like to buy kukang because they have unique, doll-like features,' Pramudya said. 'Most of the buyers have no knowledge that these primates can easily die if they live outside forests because they are basically nocturnal.'

BKSDA chief Awen Supranata said that the kukang topped the list of the endangered animals that officers had confiscated from the animal markets in the city in their latest series of raids in April.

'We confiscated endangered animals through a security operation in three markets, such as Cipinang Market and Jatinegara Market in East Jakarta, and Kemang, South Jakarta,' Awen said at a press conference on Monday.

Among the animals seized in the raids were 17 slow lorises, two leopards, two white-fronted leaf monkeys, a falcon and a sulphur-crested cockatoo, Awen said.

The animals were currently under care at the Animal Rescue Center in Tegal Alur, West Jakarta, for medical checkups pending their release into their original habitats, he said.

Awen said that traders typically smuggled the animals from other provinces, including West Java, West Kalimantan and Sumatra island.

The animals were usually hidden in frozen fish containers or furniture ' or even inside cages with cattle.

'The traders sold the animals to the local markets or smuggled them to foreign countries such as Taiwan, China or Vietnam where there is high demand,' Awen said.

He claimed that the smugglers had made away with animals valued in the billions of rupiah by buyers overseas.

Pramudya said that officials should disseminate information on the criminal penalties associated with buying or trading endangered animals.

'Having endangered and wild animals at home has become the lifestyle among the rich. Some of the owners even formed a community and trade the animals among themselves,' Pramudya said.

'Most of them do not know that having these animals violates the Natural Resources and Ecosystem Law. By law, they can be sentenced to five years' imprisonment and to pay Rp 100 million [US$11,000] fine for raising them as pets,' he said. (tam)