Jakarta Globe, Lenny Tristia Tambun, February 6, 2014
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| Children watch a trained monkey wearing a mask during a “topeng monyet” (masked monkey) show, a traditional Indonesian street performance, in East Jakarta, in this file picture taken on April 25, 2011. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta) |
Jakarta.
Dozens of masked monkeys seized in the Indonesian capital may be released into
the wild after the city’s zoo declined to take the animals into its care,
Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo said on Thursday.
The Jakarta
administration staged a city-wide crackdown on topeng monyet — a cruel practice
where long-tailed macaques are forced to wear costumes and perform for spare
change — last October, purchasing the monkeys from handlers for Rp 1 million
($82) each. More than 60 monkeys were seized in the sweeps, putting an end to
what was once a common sight on the streets of Jakarta. But the question of
what to do with the animals, many of which suffered years of abuse, still hangs
in the air.
The
monkeys, which are being rehabilitated by the Jakarta Animal Aid Network
(JAAN), were initially slated for the city’s Ragunan Zoo. But zoo officials
have declined to take in the capital’s street monkeys, arguing that they
suffered from diseases and posed a threat to the facilities current animal
population.
“The illnesses
vary, from hepatitis to tuberculosis, so if Ragunan Zoo doesn’t want them, then
that’s OK,” Joko said.
Instead,
the city should look to releasing the monkeys into the wild, he said.
“The ill
monkeys have to be healed, but once they’re healthy we may release them to the
forest,” Joko said.
JAAN wild
animal protection coordinator Femke den Haas told the Jakarta Globe that the
animals were no longer sick. Fourteen macaques were put down after testing
positive for tuberculosis, Den Haas said. The remaining 67 are free of disease
and slowly learning to socialize with other macaques — a significant step after
spending much of their lives living alongside humans.
“All the
monkeys we have now are healthy, so they are ready to be transferred to
wherever is best for them,” Den Haas said. “[But] we still have to socialize
them [first]… to socialize monkeys who are traumatized and have not spent time
around other monkeys takes time.
“That is
why we don’t want them relocated now.”
The
organization, which campaigned for years to get the monkeys off the streets,
has floated the idea of purchasing an uninhabited island in Pulau Seribu — the
capital’s Thousand Islands district — to house the animals. The group is now
staging a fundraising campaign to buy the small island and establish a topeng
monyet sanctuary.
“We at JAAN
believe the monkeys are best off on an island,” Den Haas said. “They will be
happy on an island… but for Jakarta, for the government, it would be great if
they had an enclosure for these dancing monkeys.”
JAAN hoped
Ragunan Zoo would reconsider its refusal to accept the monkeys and construct an
appropriate habitat and eduction center to show the capital’s residents that
the animals are better off after the sweeps.
“They
should make as mall museum to show the pictures we have of these monkeys when
they were still working on the street,” Den Haas said. “It could be very
educational for Jakarta citizens. They could learn about them and see that the
monkeys are now happy and living in groups. I think it is good to educate the
public.”
The
capital’s move to ban performing monkeys has been wildly successful, Den Haas
said.
“We don’t
see any monkeys on Jakarta’s streets anymore,” she said. “We used to get phone
calls every day, but now we don’t get phone calls about monkeys [in] Jakarta.”
The
organization still receives word of topeng monyet performing in the West Java
cities of Bandung and Bekasi, but the measures taken by Joko’s administration
seem to be catching on, she said. The local government in Bandung is currently
preparing for sweeps of its own.
“We think
other cities will follow,” Den Haas said.
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