Dyah Ayu Pitaloka, Malang, East Java – Javanese bulls, also known as Bos Javanicus, are on the brink of extinction, according to a study by a government environmental group.
Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) estimates that only six of the animals remain living in the wild.
The conservation body drew its conclusion from surveys and research it conducted based on indicators including public testimonies, footprints, faeces and food availability.
During the study, BKSDA was unable to facilitate a direct encounter with the bull species, which is classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
"Observation on the bull population is quite difficult because bulls are wild animals that you don't come across easily," said Malang BKSDA chief Dedi Sudiana.
The last data on the bull population was collected in 1994 when 20 bulls were found alive in Malang's protected Tirtoyudo forest. At the time several bull sightings were recorded around Tirtoyudo. Since then the species has declined by as much as 80 percent.
In recent years Javanese bulls have been known to enter residential areas because the availability of their food, which mainly consists of grasses, bamboo, fruit, leaves and young branches, has become increasingly sparse.
In late 2011, three bulls were reported to have entered a residential area in Lenggoksono village, Tirtoyudo. Prior to that encounter, a villager was killed by a bull, prompting other villagers to hunt it down.
Rosek Nursahid, chairman of nongovernmental group ProFauna Indonesia, said that to prevent attacks on residential areas food supplies must be replenished.
Rosek suggested the government create a designated conservation area for the bulls' habitat, stressing their endangered status. Rosek explained that the bulls' habitat in Malang continues to shrink as local residents extend their plantation areas.
The chairman urged the government to find a suitable forest for the conservation area far from residential areas, where cases of human-bull conflict are unlikely to occur.