SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) — The tigers are emaciated and the 180 pelicans packed so tightly they cannot unfurl their wings without hitting a neighbor. Last week, a giraffe died with a beachball-sized wad of plastic food wrappers in its belly.
That death has focused new attention on the scandalous conditions at Indonesia's largest zoo. Set up nearly a century ago in one the most biologically diverse corners of the planet, it once boasted the most impressive collection in Southeast Asia.
But today the Surabaya Zoo is a nightmare, plagued by uncontrolled breeding, a lack of funding for general animal welfare and even persistent suspicions that members of its own staff are involved in illegal wildlife trafficking.
The rarest species, including Komodo dragons and critically endangered orangutans, sit in dank, unsanitary cages, filling up on peanuts tossed over the fence by giggling visitors.
"This is extremely tragic, but of course by no means surprising in Indonesia's zoos, given the appalling way they are managed on the whole," said Ian Singleton, a former zookeeper who now runs an orangutan conservation program on Sumatra island.
The zoo came under heavy fire two years ago following reports that 25 of its 4,000 animals were dying every month, almost all of them prematurely. They included an African lion, a Sumatran tiger and several crocodiles.
The government appointed an experienced zookeeper, Tony Sumampouw, to clean up the operation and he struggled, with some success, to bring the mortality rate down to about 15 per month.
But following last week's death of the 30-year-old giraffe "Kliwon" — who had for years been eating litter and trash thrown into its pen and was found with a 18-kilogram (40-pound) ball of plastic in its stomach — Sumampouw said he's all but given up.
Nothing short of a "total renovation" is needed, he said.
"We need to either think about privatizing or transferring out some of the animals."
With entrance fees of less than $2, critics say there's not enough money to care for the animals, much less invest in improving the zoo's facilities.
One of the biggest problems is overcrowding.
Whereas most zoos limit the number of animals born in captivity — taking into consideration how many can reasonably be cared for or exchanged with other zoos — the notion of "family planning" has not yet taken off here. Contraceptives are expensive and there are not adequate facilities to separate males and females. As result, species at the Surabaya zoo are bred to excess.
The 180 pelicans are kept in a pen the size of a volleyball court. Nearby, 16 tigers — 12 Sumatran and four Bengalese — are kept in a prison-like row of concrete cages.
One white tiger, whose parents were donated by the Indian government nearly 20 years ago, is now covered by skin lesions.
Let out so rarely, she suffers from back complications that make it difficult to just stand up, let alone walk, zoo curator Sri Pentawati said.
"There are too many tigers," she lamented. "We have a hard time rotating them out to get all the exercise they need."
Rahmat Shah — a well known big-game hunter with a museum in the city of Medan that is filled with rhinos, big cats and other animals he's shot around the world — currently heads Indonesia's National Zoo Association. He says none of the zoos run by the government are in good condition, but that Surabaya is especially troubled, due to a bitter internal rift.
Two men who each claimed to be the zoo's chief were fired several years ago, but their followers among the staff have continued the feud.
Police believe the poisoning death of a Javan warthog in January, found with traces of cyanide in its stomach, was linked to that conflict.
"One side is always trying to discredit the other," said Ludvie Achmad, head of a local conservation agency.
Sumampouw acknowledged he has had little success in controlling the undisciplined staff.
He said he believes some animals, including three young Komodos that disappeared last year, were stolen by caretakers and sold into the exotic pet trade.
Zookeepers also have been accused of taking meat meant for the tigers and selling it in the local market.
___
Associated Press writer Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta contributed to this report.
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SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) — The tigers are emaciated and the 180 pelicans packed so tightly they cannot unfurl their wings without hitting a neighbor. Last week, a giraffe died with a beachball-sized...
SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) — The tigers are emaciated and the 180 pelicans packed so tightly they cannot unfurl their wings without hitting a neighbor. Last week, a giraffe died with a beachball-sized...
Molly_Moravec: Sign the petition! https://www.change.org/petitions/indonesian-government-take-responsibility-for-the-deplorable-conditions-at-surabaya-zoo#
The Surabaya Zoo is a disgrace and an affront to common decency. The Indonesian Government should hang it's head in shame to allow this sort of treatment of defenceless animals which are exploited by those who run the zoo for their own personal monetary gains. No doubt the indignity doesn’t stop there, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find once an animal is starved or brutally abused to death that its body parts are sold as ingredients for alternative medicines in that part of the world.
I have friends who come to Indonesia as tourists on a regular basis and, I have thought of making the trip myself, but in retrospect why bother going to a place that mistreats its animals and is incapable of managing its zoos, and no doubt other natural and wildlife attractions that a tourist would go to.
I for one will not set foot in such a country and I will strongly encourage my friends and others to give Indonesian a miss as a future place to holiday in, or have any other dealings with it.
PiSigma: The Surabaya Zoo is a disgrace and an affront to
I was shocked when I saw this headline. I wondered where in the world and so I clicked on the story.
It was Surabaya, Indonesia! I was there 39 years ago and remember being shocked by the confinement of a bear in a very small cage.
It horrifies me to think conditions there have continued, I guess, unchanged.
crimson56: I was shocked when I saw this headline. I wondered
PETA is depending on you to be the animals' voice. Here is a portion of the response I got (the same day) from them: Please write to the Ministry of Forestry and Surbaya city officials and demand that the suffering of animals at the hands of Surabaya Zoo be ended for good. Please ask them to close the zoo and transfer the animals to more suitable enclosures.
Please send polite comments to:
The Honorable Zulkifli Hasan
Minister, Ministry of Forestry menhut@dephut.go.id
(021) 570-4501~04; (021) 573-0191
The Honorable Tri Rismaharini
Mayor of Surabaya webmaster@surabaya.go.id
Sam1343: PETA is depending on you to be the animals' voice.
I have never been visiting any zoo in Indonesia so this news is really shocking to me. Too bad I doubt the government will be concerned with this matter.
utpux: I have never been visiting any zoo in Indonesia so
There's nothing else I can say: this is one of the most depressing things to see happen. These gorgeous, magnificent animals that could be in their natural environment now crammed into places where "giggling visitors" throw peanuts and trash at them. This is horrifying. Unfortunately, this story is all too common - and we've got some pretty nasty zoos in the U.S. as well. I don't partake in them anymore. Even the nicer ones (DC, San Diego, Pittsburgh) still rub me the wrong way.
threnodymarch: There's nothing else I can say: this is one of
PETA is already involved with a letter-writing campaign to the following:
Please write to the Ministry of Forestry and Surbaya city officials and demand that the suffering of animals at the hands of Surabaya Zoo be ended for good. Please ask them to close the zoo and transfer the animals to more suitable enclosures.
Please send polite comments to:
The Honorable Zulkifli Hasan
Minister, Ministry of Forestry menhut@dephut.go.id
(021) 570-4501~04; (021) 573-0191
The Honorable Tri Rismaharini
Mayor of Surabaya webmaster@surabaya.go.id
ALSO, this link to a petition, thanks to a couple people posting here:
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First Posted: 03/13/2012 4:47 am Updated: 03/13/2012 4:50 pm