Nature Alert: Skippy and his mates come to Indonesia: Why?

Saturday, 17 October 2009

Skippy and his mates come to Indonesia: Why?

RE: Indonesia Safari Park gets 6 `roos from Australia | The Jakarta Post

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/10/12/indonesia-safari-park-gets-6-roos-australia.html

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Submitted to but not yet published by The Jakarta Post in reply to the above article.

Skippy and his mates come to Indonesia: Why?

All over Indonesia, wildlife endemic to this country is being wiped out at petrifying speed. A visit to most zoos in Indonesia will elicit scenes of cruelty to animals which defy belief and sufficiently bad to make even the most hardened zoo advocate either vomit or cry, possibly both.

It is, therefore, extremely hard, impossible really, to comprehend why the Australia Zoo (see Indonesia Safari Park gets 6 `roos from Australia Mon, 10/12/2009) chooses, rather than offer its expertise and money to help the bad zoos and the animals already incarcerated in them, instead to send six kangaroos to an Indonesian zoo with another nine promised if the first shipment survive. I'm quite sure the Indonesian Zoo in Bogor is a good one and will take good care of their new acquisitions from Australia; that is not in question or the point. Can anyone imagine the good people of Indonesia asking to see kangaroos in their local zoo?

The point is, why would the Australia Zoo go to all the expense of sending these Kangaroos and staff to Indonesia? What on earth will seeing Australian kangaroos in an Indonesian zoo, teach Indonesian visitors about their own endemic wildlife and why it is in much greater need of understanding and help than - kangaroos? The short answer is nothing. Why, then, has the Australia Zoo gone to such lengths and expense? Would the not small amount of money involved in shipping all these kangaroos and attendant staff to Indonesia have been better spent helping the many bad zoos improve? The short answer, in my view, is unquestionably: YES.

Whatever next?

Sean Whyte

Chief Executive

www.naturealert.org

England

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.