Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Environmental activists Wednesday accused powerful military and police officials in North Sumatra and Aceh of keeping endangered orangutans as pets.
The organization interviewed black marketers and villagers who peddle orangutans, asking them who they sell to and who in their village owns the animals. The results suggested a total of 100 Sumatran orangutans were being kept in private homes.
"Out of 100 orangutans that came from Gunung Leuser National Park, almost 70 percent are estimated to be in the hands of high ranking military and police officials and the rest are kept by local officials, businesspeople and villagers," SOCP scientific director Ian Singleton said Wednesday.
He said the officials used various methods to get their pets, from hunting the oranguatans to buying them illegally from traders. Some had received the endangered animals as gifts.
He said it was not hard to get Sumatran orangutans on the black market since they were traded in several places in Aceh and North Sumatra.
"If you want to buy orangutans in Medan, just go to Jalan Bintang. For those who have no idea about the place, they might think it's not an orangutan trading place since the sellers don't show the animals in their shops. But if you tell the traders that you want to buy an orangutan, they have them," Singleton said.
According to Forestry Ministry data, there are about 62,000 orangutans in the country, 7,500 of which are in Sumatra. But conservationists said the populations are fast declining due to deforestation and illegal animal trafficking.
Singleton said the 1990 Law on natural resources and ecosystem conservation prohibits a person from capturing, injuring, keeping, killing, or trading a protected animal, dead or alive.
Those violating the law can face five years jail and a Rp 100 million (US$10,869) fine.
"Officials who keep the orangutans at home certainly know about the law but they don't respect it. That's a sign of their arrogance," Singleton said.
The head of North Sumatra's Natural Resources Conservation Agency, Djati Witjaksono, said Wednesday that the center was aware many officials keep orangutans at home. He said several efforts had been made to confiscate the orangutans, but had met with resistance.
He said the center confiscated an orangutan belonging to an official two days ago. The eight-year-old orangutan, which escaped from its cage, has been sent to an orangutan quarantine center run by SOCP in Sibolangit, Deli Serdang regency, North Sumatra. Singleton said there were some 18 Sumatran orangutans at the group's quarantine center, confiscated from various people.
"All of the orangutans being placed at SOCP will eventually be released back into the Sumatran forest," he said.
Djati said the agency had proposed that North Sumatra Governor Rudolf Pardede issue an instruction prohibiting civilian, military and police officials from keeping orangutans.
"The proposal is currently being processed at the North Sumatra Environmental Impact Management Agency and hopefully, it can take effect this year," he said.