Wildlife Crime in Indonesia 2015: 5,000 Trade and 370 Poaching Cases

The year of 2015 has been a searing period for conservation and protection efforts of Indonesian wildlife. This is not solely due to the disastrous fires that occurred throughout the country, but also to the rampant wildlife trade and poaching.

Protection of Forest & Fauna (PROFAUNA) notes that from January up to mid-December 2015 there were at least 5,000 cases of wildlife trade on the web (including on social media like Facebook). The number increases considerably compared to the data compiled in 2014, when there were approximately 3,640 online ads offering wide range of wild animal species.

The rate and volume of wildlife trade in social media has gone through the roof because it is very easy for users to upload their items, develop an unlimited network, and the security is far better than the conventional trade.

The trend of illegal wildlife trade has been dominated by online method for the past five years. On the contrary, conventional trade in bird markets is almost gone, although we can still found  some dealers offering protected wildlife species in some markets.

Likewise, the number of wildlife trade and poaching cases covered in the mass media is still high. During 2015, PROFAUNA recorded at least 67 wildlife trade cases and 16 wildlife poaching cases appeared in the media.

Indeed, the figure is lower than last year's record (78 wildlife trade cases). However, seen from the cases' volume, there are more massive cases where big number of animals and money is involved. Some of the massive cases are:

• Trade of 96 alive pangolins, 5,000 kg frozen pangolin meat, and 77 kg pangolin scales foiled in Medan, North Sumatra in April 2015
• Smuggling attempt of 10 kg Manta Ray gills, 4 sacks of mixed shark and ray bones, 2 sacks of shark bones, and 4 shark fins in East Flores in July 2015
• Smuggling attempt of a 40 feet-container of Horned Helmet (Cassis cornuta) shells worth IDR 20.422 billion in August 2015, which was about to be shipped to China

As from the kind of species involved, there were 17 cases (25%) involving marine species such as sea turtle, ray, shark, etc. The other species group that are prone to be illegally traded are the big cats (tiger, leopard cat, etc) which was involved in 16 cases (24%), parrots in 12 cases (18%), primates in 11 cases (16%), and various songbirds in 10 cases (15%).

From the database, we are able to map and point out that East Java is the province with the largest number of wildlife trade cases (16 cases), followed by West Java (7 cases) and Bali (5 cases). East Java tops the list because it still has many forest areas where wild animals are captured and then traded. The position of East Java within Indonesian archipelago has also made this province an important trade hub between the eastern and western part of the country, either by sea or air transport. In addition, the capital city, Surabaya, is the seconds largest city in Java which makes it highly potential as a market for wildlife.

Wildlife Poaching

The number of wildlife poaching case is also increasing. In East Java only, PROFAUNA recorded over 370 cases of wildlife poaching. Ironically, many of the cases took place within protection forests or nature conservation areas.

Among the nature conservation areas in East Java that are vulnerable to poaching are Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, R. Soerjo Grand Forest Park, Baluran National Park, Meru Betiri National Park, forests around Ijen Mountains, Yang Highlands Wildlife Reserve,  Mt. Arjuna, and Mt. Kawi.

During 2015, PROFAUNA received nearly 200 public reports related to wildlife poaching. More than 90% of the reports were about photos posted in social media showing hunters with their catch and weapons.

There were 15 cases reported to PROFAUNA by email, SMS, and phone. Four of the cases were followed up by PROFAUNA and were investigated further by the authorities:

• Photos of Leopard Cat killing posted on Facebook by user named Ida Tri Susanti from Jember, East Java
• A photo of men disembowelling a Sunbear posted on Facebook by user named Ronal Cristoper Ronal from East Borneo
• Photos of Sumatran Tiger slaughter posted on Facebook by user named Manullang Aldosutomo from North Sumatra
•  A photo of a men killing and roasting a primate posted on Facebook by user named Polo Panitia Hari Kiamat from Central Borneo

It is unfortunate though, that none of those cases have been brought to court, let alone the defendant are given any penalty. In his statement to the media, Rosek Nursahid, PROFAUNA's chairman, stated that university students and the younger generation in general are well-educated yet they show unethical behaviours towards animals. Rosek thinks that the younger generation is lacking morality, especially on appreciating and taking care of the environment.

Weak Law Enforcement

There were at least six penalties given to wildlife dealers, with imprisonment penalty ranging between six months up to two years, and fines varying from IDR 500,000 up to 50 million. The highest penalty was given to a dealer of three Orangutans, two eagles, one Argus, and one stuffed Clouded Leopard. Langsa District Court sentenced to two years of prison and IDR 50 million fines subsidiary to 3 months of prison in November 2015.

In general, sentence given to illegal wildlife criminals are very insufficient, as we can see for instance in the case of Basuki Ongko Raharjo, a transnational wildlife dealer. On 17 June 2015 Judges of Surabaya District Court, presided by Ferdinandus, gave a very low sentence to the defendant: six months of prison, with one year of probation.

Basuki Ongko Raharjo, a resident of Malang, was proven guilty of violating Law no.5 of 1990 concerning the Conservation of Living Natural Resource and Its Ecosystem, thus liable to a maximum five years of prison and IDR 100 million fines. However, despite all the hard evidence and his absence of plea, the judges gave a meagre sentence which was not so different from the probation-only indictment.

The case is an illustration of how dire is the fate of Indonesian wildlife. From Basuki, the police confiscated a stuffed sea turtle, Leopard Cats, Mousedeer skeletons, head of a deer, 85 kingfisher beaks, 30 kingfisher skulls, 90 kingfisher heads, 63 pieces of peafowl feather, 5 nautilus, and 9 skunks.