Indonesian Ministry of Forestry hosts conference on ‘Destruction of Preserved Wildlife’

 

Jakarta, Indonesia, Nov 13, 2012 – (ACN Newswire) – The Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia held a Conference on the ‘Destruction of Preserved Wildlife’ on November 12, 2012, at the Plaza Manggala Wanabakti in Jakarta. The event, which was attended by the Chief of the Indonesian National Police and the Minister of the Environment, was held to encourage laws on the eradication of the selling of protected animals, both alive and already dead.

Various operations and initiatives have been launched to enforce preservation laws, particularly Law No. 5-1990, which preserves biodiversity. Until now, 955 articles of evidence in violation of preservation laws have been gathered, which consist of 75 preserved wildlife or parts of their bodies, including 10 preserved Sumatran Tigers, 1 preserved young elephant, 5 preserved bear, 5 preserved leopards, 2 pieces of dried Sumatran tiger skin, 12 pieces of wet tiger skin, 28 tropical birds and others.

Of these, 554 articles were of wildlife preserved in good condition. They are stored in the UPTs of the Directorate General of Forest and Biodiversity Protection, consisting of 13 tigers preserved in intact condition, 6 pieces of dried Sumatran tiger skin, 4 pieces of wet Sumatran tiger skin, 3 preserved leopards, 1 preserved Javanese rhino, 1 Javanese rhino horn, 3 Javanese eagles and 521 mammalian animals, birds, reptiles, bivalves and coral.

The government will use those in preserved condition as material for research and conservation at local UPTs, and all damaged articles will be destroyed. Surviving animals will be released into the wild.

Indonesia enjoys the third largest measure of biodiversity in the world, making it a megabiodiversity country. Not less than 515 species of mammalian animals and 511 species of reptile and 1531 species of birds are found in Indonesia, along with 270 species of amphibian animals, 2827 species of invertebrate and 38 thousands species of plants. This is a treasure that must be managed properly for the Indonesian people, and the world.