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Bandung Zoo destroys hundreds of preserved animals
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A zookeeper lifts a formaldehyde-preserved orangutan to be destroyed at the Bandung Zoo quarantine area on Wednesday. Law No. 5/1990 on natural resources conservation states that formaldehyde-preserved animals can only be displayed for education and research purposes. (JP/Arya Dipa)
T
he management of the Bandung Zoo in West Java intentionally destroyed most of the specimens in its collection of preserved animals by burning them on Wednesday.
Much of the collection, consisting of 263 animals preserved in an undisclosed manner, needed to be destroyed because most of the specimens were damaged to varying degrees and in a condition deemed unfit for display, according to a representative of the zoo's marketing and communications office, Sulhan Syafii.
Sulhan added that the zoo's management was planning to use the location of the museum that had housed the collection to build a special zone for African animals such as zebras, giraffes, marshbucks and lions.
“However, some of the specimens are still in good condition. In the future we will keep preserving animals on a smaller scale,” Sulhan said.
The zoo's management had notified the West Java Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) regarding its plan to destroy the collection in September last year.
The procedures to do so were laid out in Law No. 5/1990 on natural resources conservation, Government Regulation (PP) No. 7/1999 on plant and animal preservation and PP No. 8/1999 on plant and animal utilization. Failure to comply with these regulations and laws could result in up to five years' imprisonment.
West Java BKSDA’s analyst of nature protection data, Dadang Hermawan, said that the damaged specimens needed to be burned because they could not be used for research or other educational purposes.
“This is the first time the destruction of animal specimens has occured at the zoo,” Dadang told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
He explained that only conservation institutions were allowed to own preserved animals for educational and research purposes. Dadang added that the specimens were destroyed by fire to prevent their illegal ownership by others.
“Other uses than research or educational purposes are prohibited. It is also illegal to sell and buy them,” he said.(dpk)
