Wildlife Law Enforcement in East Java

One of the many challenges to tackle the illegal wildlife trade in Indonesia is that wildlife crimes are not taken seriously by authorities. This statement is proven to be wrong by the East Java Police Department. ProFauna Indonesia, a wildlife protection organization, has been working together with the police in the province and revealed several wildlife syndicates in their following raids: operation on parrot syndicate and stock house in May 2009 and confiscation of protected parrotsin June 2009.

ProFauna Indonesia keeps providing information and giving enforcement assistance to the police. Following ProFauna's reports, on last 22 October 2009, the Police of Surabaya city has succeeded in seizing protected parrots worth almost a hundred million Indonesia Rupiah (around 10,000 USD). Surabaya has been notorious for the hub of parrot smuggling and trade. According to ProFauna records, bird markets in Surabaya keep selling protected wildlife, especially parrots, secretly. Even though the traders do not display the animals in the markets, the illegal trade is still going on as they keep the wildlife in their warehouses or private residences. The latest operation was held last 31 October 2009 where the police of Lumajang city, 180 km from Surabaya, managed to seize dozens of eagles and hornbills owned by a wildlife trader.

ProFauna applauds these enforcement efforts by the police and encourages other government authorities in Indonesia to enforce the law on wildlife crime. In addition, the organization will hold training on wildlife law enforcement to the police in order to complement their positive initiatives to tackle the illegal trade that threatens the wildlife survival in Indonesia.