Friday 6 March 2009

Safari Park to get six kangaroos from Australian Zoo

Can anyone think why the people of Indonesia would want to see kangaroos - let alone Koala bears?


At a time when thousands of animals are kept in horrific cages in Indonesian zoos, what does Terri Irwin want to do? Send some Kangaroos! Kangaroos to Indonesia. Shame on Irwin and her zoo.


So now we have Howletts zoo from the UK and this zoo of Irwin's doing deals in Indonesia which appear to defy all logic and cannot possibly be in the best interests of the animals.


Regular readers might remember a while ago reading Blog posts re Terry Irwin; she had spoken strongly in favour of Indonesia's forest protection - it would be a joke if it was not so serious an issue.


Irwin repeatedly failed to respond to letters from various people questioning her support forthe Indonesian government. At the time I said we should look out for some deal to be done between the Australian Zoo and an Indonesian zoo. That time has come.


FOR THE MOMENT WE CAN ONLY WONDER WHY THIS 'DONATION' IS BEING MADE. Hmmnn.


Do you think Terri Irwin might be hoping to gain favour in Indonesia in the hope of obtaining in exchange for these kangaroos some large red, hairy, highly endangered animals? Hmmnn. I wonder. We can only wait and watch. In the meantime let's hope

people in Australia will strongly protest the export of their kangaroos, and Koala bears. Anyone familiar with Indonesian zoos would not donate a mouse to one.


If you want to write to Terri Irwin here is an email address for the zoo

info@wildlifewarriors.org.au Be sure to ask if she is hoping to receive any Indonesian animals in exchange. If you do write, you are part of the solution; if you don't write, you are part of the problem - someone who likes to watch what happens rather than do something about a bad situation.

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The Jakarta Post | Fri, 02/27/2009

Indonesia’s biggest public zoo, Safari Park, in Cisarua, West Java, is expected to receive six kangaroos from Australia in late March or early April 2009, to mark cooperation between the Australian Zoo and Safari Park.

The cooperation between the two zoos was initiated several years ago, when Steve Irwin was still active in managing the Australian zoo, Safari director Tony Sumampau said as quoted by Antara news agency in Cisarua on Friday.

Irwin, a 44-year-old TV presenter known as the "Crocodile Hunter”, was killed by a stingray barb that went through his chest, while filming an underwater documentary last September 2006.

Terri Raines Irwin, Steve Irwin's widow, visited Safari Cisarua last year, for some agenda on wildlife conservation.

The six kangaroos would be part of 15 kangaroos to be given to Indonesia by Australia, Sumampau said.

However, the zoo's staff would first monitor to see whether the six kangaroos could adapt themselves to the Safari environment, he said.

Only if the six kangaroos were successful, the rest would be sent to Indonesia, he said.

Based on the past experiences, Australian kangaroos could not survive long in Indonesia, and therefore the Australian zoo had halted the cooperation program previously, he said.

However, Safari’s management had learned the lessons from the past experiences and would assign two keepers and one veterinarian, who had been trained in Australia, to watch over the kangaroos, he said.

The Australian Zoo would also give a pair of Koala bear to Safari, he said.

The Indonesian natural resources and forest protection director general last year signed a memorandum of understanding on the plan to receive two Koala bears from Australia, Sumampau said.

The two Koala bears might arrive in 2011 because Safari needed to plant more eucalyptus trees as the animals eat eucalyptus leaves, he said.

Safari Park has so far had Papua's kangaroos known as 'Walabi', which is smaller than Australia's kangaroos.