“New toys have arrived!” a man with the initials SP allegedly wrote on his Facebook account trying to lure customers with photos of several protected birds, including two sulphur-crested cockatoos.

“How much are you selling them for?” someone commented under the photos, to which SP quickly replied, saying that the price of a bird was Rp 1.8 million (US$135).

It was apparently not the first time SP, a resident of Batudaa in Gorontalo, had sold protected animals on social media.

He reportedly put another batch of protected birds up for sale through Facebook posts in April, including an eclectus parrot, lovebird, chattering lory and violet-necked lory.

Besides the protected birds, SP also displayed some non-protected birds including the black-winged stilt, aquatic bird normally found in Limboto Lake in Gorontalo. SP’s alleged illegal wildlife trade on social media was brought to an end when police officers nabbed him at his house in Batudaa on June 9. At least 15 parrots of different types were seized from his house.

Authorities suspect that SP bought most of the birds at Bitung Port in North Sulawesi.

“From all the birds seized, five were protected,” said Muhammad Nur, head of the environment and forestry security and law enforcement agency (BPPHLHK) for Sulawesi region III.

SP was charged with violating the 1990 law on natural resources and ecosystem conservation which carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment and a Rp 100 million fine.

It was not the first case of wildlife trade through social media uncovered by the authorities. In April, the Gorontalo Agricultural Quarantine Agency thwarted an attempt to smuggle several protected birds through the Gorontalo Port from Central Sulawesi. Officers confiscated three electus parrots and deer antlers. In February last year, the agency also seized dozens of birds, including two that were protected, which were displayed on Jl. Arif Rahman in Gorontalo.

Besides birds, Sulawesi’s endemic babirusa, which have been listed as vulnerable, are also threatened by continuous hunting in the area.

The smuggling of protected animals in Gorontalo was rampant because of people’s desire to collect them, said Samsuddin Hadju, head of conservation at the Gorontalo Environment Conservation Office (BKSDA).

“Commonly, these people are from a middle-to-upper income background,” Samsuddin said recently.

Protected animals in Gorontalo are hunted not just for profit or personal collections but also for consumption. Hunting is rampant in Lake Limboto, a habitat of 14 protected bird species and four species endemic to Sulawesi. The lake is also a destination and transit point for annual bird migration.

“The hunting of protected birds and migrant birds is still rampant in Lake Limboto,” said Debby Hariyanto Mano, an activist at Biodiversitas, an organization that campaigns for the protection of animals at Lake Limboto.

Meanwhile, members of a joint team, comprising Environment and Forestry Ministry, West Java BKSDA and Cianjur Police personnel, arrested two people on Wednesday for allegedly trafficking protected animals through social media.

In two separate locations, the group arrested AN, 20, and DR, 30.

Five endangered animals were seized at the house of AN, a college student who lives in Bojong Picung district in Cianjur, consisting of two yellow-crested cockatoos, two Asian leopard cats and a pangolin.

Meanwhile, DR was arrested with one endangered binturong and 15 non-protected animals, including an Asian palm civet, small-toothed palm civet, sugar glider, buffy fish owl and small Asian mongoose.

The arrest was made following a tip off from a member of the public about protected wildlife being traded through social media.

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