Trade in Endangered Species Thrives on Fringe of Animal Markets
1/18/99
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Title: Trade in Endangered Species Thrives on Fringe of Animal Markets
Source: South China Morning Post
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 1/18/99
JENNY GRANT in Jakarta The Pramuka animal market in east Jakarta is
crammed with screeching birds, nervous monkeys and slow-moving reptiles.
Families come here to buy pets and song birds - a popular form of
adornment in the lush gardens of Indonesia's rich. But behind the
brightly painted cages, deals are made for rarer species worth hundreds,
perhaps thousands of dollars. Animal trader Hasim, who has worked in
the market for 16 years, scrawls a list of protected animals he and his
colleagues trade that includes orang-utan, cobras, slow loris and
gibbons. "You don't buy them directly from the market. The owner must
trust and get to know the buyer, then they'll meet at a secret house for
the exchange," he said.
Indonesian banknotes proudly sport images of the orang-utan, the
Cenderawasih bird of paradise and the Komodo dragon, three of the
nation's 546 protected species. Ironically, it is the ailing rupiah
that is driving illegal trade in those very creatures. "All over
Indonesia we have messages the trade is increasing. With the economic
crisis, people are taking risks and going for whatever can bring them in
some money," said Willy Smits, who heads a Department of Forestry scheme
to protect orang-utan and stop illegal wildlife trade. Mr Smits said
although most smuggling was done by boat between Indonesia's myriad
islands, some networks were more elaborate. One case of animal
smuggling involved people in six different countries, a ring that
extended to Europe and on to the US, he said. Customs officers at
Jakarta airport recently foiled a bid to smuggle US$60,000 (HK$464,000)
worth of cobras to China. Another international ring involves rare
birds being smuggled from Sumatra to Singapore. Demand in Asia for
exotic dishes such as monkey brains and shark's fin, and for medicine
from tiger parts, is also driving the trade from cash-strapped
Indonesia. Trade in baby orang-utan and loss of jungle habitat
threatens the future of the population, estimated at only 25,000 on
Borneo and Sumatra. "There is a significant probability that if these
orang-utan populations continue to become fragmented and isolated, they
may not survive in the long term," said Carey Yeager, of the Worldwide
Fund for Nature. Ms Yeager and other environmentalists are up against
poor farmers who, after years of drought, are now poaching live animals
for their own survival. Mr Smits, who also co-ordinates anti-poaching
activities on the outer islands, says he has implicated senior military
officials in the illegal trade. One helicopter raid on an army camp in
Kalimantan last year freed a number of caged orangutan. A senior
military official in Way Kambas, south Sumatra, was recently arrested
for hunting tigers and selling their skins at five million rupiah
(HK$4,500) each. Tigers are appearing for sale in the markets of north
Sumatra. Problems with Indonesia's justice system means prosecution is
not always inevitable for traders caught red-handed.