More on ProFauna's Enforcement Efforts to Tackle the Illegal Wildlife Trade

Last year, 22 August 2009, a tiger in Rimbo Jambi Zoo, Sumatera, Indonesia, was stolen and brutally killed, leaving its intestines and ribs in her cage. ProFauna, as a wildlife protection organization in Indonesia has been fighting against such wildlife cruelty and crime in the country. Thus, ProFauna demanded the government to fully enforce the law in this case. As the results of ProFauna's intensive lobbying to the authorities, The Police and Forestry Department of Jambi, Sumatera were successful to bring it to the court and, five months later on 11 January 2010, the perpetrator received 3 year-and-10-month sentence and one million IDR fine. This punishment was great achievement to the authorities of Jambi and to wildlife law enforcement in the country as the maximum prison term according to the 1990 no. 5 Indonesian Wildlife Act concerning the Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems is five-year.

Just last week, 9 February 2010, the convict of slow loris trade busted by the East Java Police Department with enforcement assistances provided by ProFauna, received 10-month imprisonment for selling six lorises. While the owner and trader of the other confiscated wildlife including 15 slow lorises (Nycticebus coucang), 15 Javan langurs (Trachypithecus auratus), a White-bellied Sea-eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster), and a leopard cat (Felis bengalensis), is still fugitive.

ProFauna and the East Java Police Department has been working together to reveal the illegal wildlife law in the province. To increase the police's wildlife enforcement skills, ProFauna held a training, supported by the Humane Society International (HSI), on enforcement and identification of mostly-traded animals, (Mon, 15 February 2010) which was attended by 35 officials of the East Java Police Department. Besides ProFauna team as keynote speakers, the training committee also invited two representatives of the East Java Forestry Department to present their policies and regulations to the participants to complete the legal efforts to protect wildlife from the illicit trade. ProFauna plans to hold similar training for other enforcement agencies in other regions in Indonesia while creating and strengthening relationships with the authorities to save wildlife in Indonesia.