Illegal Wildlife Seized from a Vet in Banyuwangi

A team from the Nature Conservation Agency of East Java and Banyuwangi Police Department seized 20 wild animals from a vet's house in Banyuwangi, east Java on 5 February 2016. The animals confiscated were 11 young peafowls, 7 phytons, and 2 monitor lizards.

The animals belonged to Drh. RIF (DVM) who has been trading wild animals on Facebook and Blackberry Messenger. He was quite active in groups like Lelang Barter (LEBAR) and Just Lelang Hewan (JULEHA). After monitoring his activities, finally the authorities went on a raid to foil his illegal business.

"The animals do not have official documents with them, so we confiscated them from Drh. RIF's house in Banyuwangi. But he was not present at that time," stated Pudjiadi, the chief of Nature Conservation Agency area 5 Banyuwangi.

Previously, Protection of Forest & Fauna (PROFAUNA) Indonesia released a publication mentioning that in 2015 there were over 5,000 cases of online wildlife trade on Facebook. The number escalated quite significantly compared to 2014's number of 3,640 cases.

"We hope that illegal wildlife dealers could be sentenced with maximum penalty, as it evident that they have violated the Law no.5 of 1990 concerning the conservation of living natural resource and its ecosystem," said Swasti Prawidya Mukti, PROFAUNA's campaign officer.

"PROFAUNA is going to report this to the Veterinary Association as such law violation also violated professional ethics," she added.