Endangered Lorises in Jakarta Market Highlight Need for Better Enforcement

Jakarta Globe, Fidelis E. Satriastanti | December 19, 2010       

Jakarta. Wildlife activists announced on Friday they had found 18 highly endangered Sunda slow lorises being sold openly in Jakarta, just a day after government officials and conservationists held a seminar on the threats facing the primate.

Slow lorises’ eyes are used in traditional medicine,
 which has lead to their near extinction. (Photo courtesy
 of Chris R. Shepherd)   

Traffic, a wildlife trade monitoring network, said its staff had found the animals being displayed in cages in front of Jatinegara Market in East Jakarta on Dec. 10.

It also said one cage was seen holding six lorises, forest-dwelling primates who are hunted for their large eyes.

The find came after a Dec. 9 seminar organized by International Animal Rescue Indonesia, which identified the illegal trade in the animal as the main reason for the species’ decline in the wild and for the high rate of premature death in captivity.

Chris R. Shepherd, deputy regional director of Traffic Southeast Asia, said the problem was the lack of law enforcement against the practice.

“These animals exemplify the threats slow lorises and other protected species face in Indonesia — trade is carried out openly and dealers do not fear reprimand or penalties,” he said.

“Dealers are well aware of the illegality of their trade in these species. Only with successful prosecution and sustained efforts by authorities to close down this trade will the situation change. Anything less is meaningless.”

Karmele Llano Sanchez, the IAR’s veterinary director, agreed, saying “It is obvious that people do not take the Indonesian laws seriously.”

“Only a small percentage of traded lorises are rescued and even those can rarely be returned to the wild as traders remove their teeth prior to selling the animals,” she said.

Shepherd said another challenge was that only one of the three subspecies — the Javan slow loris — was protected under Indonesian law.

The Javan slow loris has been listed among the world’s 25 most endangered primates since 2008.

The country is also home to two other subspecies, the Malay and Borneo slow lorises.

Trade in all three is prohibited under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which Indonesia has acceded to but not ratified.

Traffic staff also found other rare animals being traded at the market, including the crested serpent-eagle, crested hawk-eagle, black-winged kite and leopard cat.

All are fully protected under Indonesian laws and cannot be legally traded.

Ahmad Saeroji, acting head of the Jakarta Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), said he would look in to the matter of animals being illegally traded in markets once be had formally taken up his new post.

“Once I start working, I’ll put these markets in order, just like in Surabaya,” said Ahmad, formerly with the East Java BKSDA.

Under the 1990 Law on the Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems, anyone caught trading in protected species can face up to five years in prison and fines of up to Rp 100 million ($11,000).

Green group seeks more protection for loris

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Malang

The government has been accused of not taking serious steps to preserve an endangered animal species, by failing to raise the risk-status of the loris.

Executive director of environmental group ProFauna Indonesia, Asep R. Purnama, said the government is being indecisive and the Forestry Ministry's Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation has not responded to the two letters the group sent in December 2006 and April this year.

"They have not stated clearly whether the government supports our proposal or not, and have only expressed their gratitude for the notification, despite the fact that Indonesia is a signatory of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)," said Asep.

A recommendation on the protection of the loris will be submitted at the 14th CITES conference in The Hague, the Netherlands, from June 3 to 15.

The respective CITES signatory countries and non-government organizations dedicated to the cause will meet to discuss new regulations for the protection of endangered animal species.

The loris is protected by a law, based on a 1973 Agriculture Ministry decree, and clarified by a 1999 government regulation on preserving flora and fauna species.

According to Asep, under the current law some parties are still permitted to trade the loris.

If the CITES conference in The Hague approves the recommendation to raise the risk status of the loris, international trade of the animal could be more tightly controlled.

"Only certain parties would be able to buy lorises. These include zoos and animal research institutions, but not individuals," said Asep.

The government needs to move quickly on this issue as there are still many countries that have yet to list the loris as an endangered species, evident from the rife trade and trafficking of the animal from Indonesia to the international market.

Asep cited a foiled attempt to smuggle 91 lorises from Indonesia to Kuwait through Soekarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta in January 2003.

A similar incident occurred in June 2004, when police were able to prevent an attempt to smuggle three lorises to Korea and Japan through the same airport.

According to data from ProFauna, around 7,000 lorises have been caught and traded since 2000.

Sold for around Rp 175,000 (approximately US$20) each, the nocturnal slow-moving and tailless primate, which survives on bamboo clusters, is not only sold in animal markets, but also at shopping malls in major cities, such as Surabaya, Malang, Medan, Banjarmasin and Bandarlampung.

In Palembang, South Sumatra, the loris trade is carried out on a large-scale at the Enambelas Ilir market, where no less than 40 to 60 lorises are sold each month.

Asep said sale and ownership of a protected animal is unlawful based on a 1990 law on the conservation of natural resources and the ecosystem, and that perpetrators were liable to a five-year prison sentence and a fine of Rp 100 million.

Asep urged the Forestry Ministry and other relevant agencies to take action against those involved in the trade in lorises throughout the country.

"Saving endangered animals is not on the government's priority list, and the rife trade in endangered animals everywhere is clear evidence of this," said Asep.