ProFauna Helps Animal Victims of Merapi Eruption

Merapi Volcano in Central Java, Indonesia erupted on 26 October 2010 causing both human and animal casualties. The human death toll recorded so far is 30 people. For the animal victims, it is estimated hundreds of livestock which died because of the volcanic mudflow.

Most of the local people living by the Volcano are farmers. The disaster susceptible areas are the districts of Pakem, Cangkringan, and Turi consisting of 2,875 cattles and 1,431 goats.

Responding to the eruption, ProFauna team immediately left for the disaster location predicting that many animals would become victims. Unti 27 October 2010, the team had recorded 138 dead cattles. The number is believed to be bigger because the evacuation process keeps going on.

The wildlife victims are the long-tailed macaques (Macaca fasicularis) in the area of Kaliurang, local tourism destination. The monkeys are lack of food that can cause human animal conflict.

ProFauna is working o the food and medication for the animal victims. To help the animals, ProFauna has made communication with the local authorities including the Livestock Department and the Office of Merapi Volcano National Park, that responded positively on ProFauna's pro-active response.

Chairman of ProFauna Indonesia, Rosek Nursahid, stated, "Helping the animal victims is also helping the humans because if we don't help them, the animals can suffer diseases that can be infected by humans or zoonoses". In many cases, the rescued and evacuated animals are the remaining belongings.