PROFAUNA Installed Anti-Poaching Banners at Ternate Seaports

PROFAUNA installed anti-poaching banners at two seaports in Ternate, North Maluku,on 7 November 2017. The banners contain messages for the public to stop parrot poaching, and were installed at Bastiong and Ahmad Yani seaports by PROFAUNA's activists, Ekawati Ka'aba and Afrizal Abdi.

Ekawati Ka'aba, the Coordinator of PROFAUNA North Maluku Representative, stated that the banner installation is aimed at raising public awareness so that they will stop carrying parrots into ferries. This program is also a follow up to PROFAUNA's education program at KMP Bobara ferry last October.

Rahmadi Nugroho, Human Resource Manager of PT ASDP Ferry Indonesia Ternate appreciated the banner installment, and said that he would disseminate information about this parrot conservation issue to his employees.

"We hope that from this day on, ferry passengers and crew would have better understanding and awareness towards parrot conservation. We expect this effort could lead to less passengers and crew carrying parrots into ferries, especially the endemic species of North Maluku which are already close to extinction," said Ekawati.

Previously in July, Ekawati and Afrizal had installed similar banners at Saketa and Babang seaports, South Halmahera. The banners attracted people's attention and later on PROFAUNA's activists had fruitful discussion with them about parrot conservation. (AFZ)