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Crocodiles, bear handed over to BKSDA
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An officer of West Kalimantan Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA) holds a three-year old male orangutan in Sintang Regency, West Kalimantan on Saturday, March, 4 2017. The agency officers and Sintang Orangutan Center evacuate the orangutan which is kept by a local as a pet. (Photo courtesy of/West Kalimantan BKSDA)
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wo estuarine crocodiles and a honey bear have been handed over alive to Region III of the Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA) in East Kalimantan on Friday.
One of the crocodiles was 70 centimeters long and was estimated to be 7 or 8 months old, while the other was 30 centimeters in length and was estimated to be 2 to 3 months old.
“An attempt was being made to smuggle both to Makassar [South Sulawesi],” said the head of the agency’s conservation section, Suriawati Halim.
The head of Balikpapan fish quarantine, quality control and fishery product security, Muhammad Burlian, handed over the two crocodiles to the agency after his men foiled the smuggling attempt at Sepinggan Airport’s cargo unit on Thursday.
Burlian said the crocodiles were packed in plastic buckets, covered with cloth and wrapped in gift paper. They were declared to be snacks, but an X-ray scan showed that they did not look like snacks.
The animals were being sent by someone only identified as M in Samarinda to a recipient, R, in Makassar.
“The airport officers contacted us. It turned out to be two crocodiles when we opened it,” Burlian said, adding that estuarine crocodiles were protected animals and that only a limited number of bred ones could be traded. (wit)
