7 Institutions Collaboratively Curb the Wildlife Hunting on the Slopes of Mount Arjuna

Seven institutions came together to collaborate to curb the wildlife hunting or poaching in the forest areas of the slopes of Mount Arjuna, Malang Regency, East Java. The collaboration and mutual concern as a first step manifested in the form of the installation of an information board banning animal hunting placed in the UB Forest (Brawijaya University of Malang's Educational Forest) area on Tuesday (8 Feb 2022).

Initiated by PROFAUNA Indonesia, these various institutions finally agreed to collaborate, including UB Forest, Malang State-owned Forestry Management Unit, East Java Natural Resource Conservation Board, R Soerjo Community Forest Park, Jabalnusara Forestry Enforcement Office, and Arjuna Baghawanta Forest Farmers Group (FFG).

"Collaboration and partnership in forest management including maintaining the preservation of wildlife has become an obligation. It is impossible to protect forest and do everything needed partially, because the forest is vast and there is no guardrail," said Rosek Nursahid, founder of PROFAUNA Indonesia.

The installation of the information board banning wildlife hunting is just the beginning of the collaboration. The following collaboration is expected to be the regular joint patrols and education to the local communities surrounding the forest. Moreover, the forest boundaries managed by UB Forest, the state-owned Forestry Management Unit and the R Soerjo Community Forest Park are all intersecting with each other, so it is already possible to work together to protect the forests.

Previously in 2021, a joint team from R Soerjo Community Forest Park and PROFAUNA Indonesia had apprehended 3 suspects capturing birds illegally in the R Soerjo forest area. They were caught red handed in the production forest of the State-owned Forestry Enterprise areas. The culprits admitted that they caught the birds in the R Soerjo community forest park area.

"The wildlife hunters sneaked into the forest of the State-owned enterprise area, but most of the illegal entrances are through the areas managed by UB Forest," Nursahid said.

Bird hunting in the forest is concerning and threatening the preservation of animal diversity. In one day, a bird catcher can catch at least 50 birds. This means that there are thousands of birds caught from nature every day in various forest areas. If this continues, then the extinction of birds in nature will be accelerated.