Indonesia Field Report On Wildlife Trafficking

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Indonesia Field Report On Wildl i fe

Traff icking And Il legal Fishing As The

Last Twitch?

The Cruel Wildl i fe Market

Hundreds o f cages w i th b i rd s , l izards , bat s , and mammal s were s tacked upon one another, w i th tens or somet imes even hundreds o f spec imens c rammed in to one cage. Severa l dozen wh i te-

eyes (a b i rd genus) were squeezed into a cage appropr i a te fo r one canary. At least a hundred

bat s were s tu f fed in to another conta iner .

In a cage atop th i s s tack , more than f i f ty green agama dragon l iza rds , some dead, w i th the i r bod ies rot t ing am idst those st i l l a l i ve , were desperate ly compet ing on the ce i l i ng o f the i r conta iner fo r a l i t t l e o f b i t space. Two baby c i vet s , on sa le fo r 400,000 Indones ia

rup iah each (about USD 40) were shoved in to an ad jacent box.

. L i ke the rest o f the un fo rtunate an ima l s – squ i r re l s , ch ipmunks, b l ack-naped or i o le s , drongos, lea fb i rd s , shamas , mynas, part r i dges, and the h igh ly-pr ized and h igh ly-threatened lo r ies – the c i vets had no water and no protect i on f rom the fu l l b l a st o f the hot Indones ian sun. Many o f the an ima l s wou ld d ie in th i s ( in)famous Yogyakarta b i rd market be fo re they were so ld to new owners .

Meanwhile, however, the Yogyakarta bird market, like other wildlife markets in Indonesia and East Asia, serves as a perfect incubator for diseases that can mutate and jump among species, such as avian influenza and SARS.

Such zoogenic diseases could potentially set off a catastrophic pandemic killing millions of people.

The spread o f the v i ruses to domest i c an ima l s and peop le i s exacerbated by the t rade in roosters fo r cock-f ight s , a l so on sa le in the market am idst the w i l d-caught b i rd s and an ima l s . Even the an ima l s so ld be fo re they d ie in the hands o f the i r t raders o f ten do not sur v i ve a s househo ld pets – typ ica l ly the fa te o f spec ies such as woodpeckers , eag les , and ow l s . 

The inhumane treatment o f the an ima l s in the many w i l d l i fe markets I v i s i ted dur ing my research acros s the Indones i an a rch ipe l ago was as hear t-wrench ing as the devastat i on th i s unmi t igated trade in w i ld b i rd s and other an ima l s wreaks upon Indones ia ’ s ecosystems. Orange-headed thrushes and wh i te-crested l augh ing thrushes, ava i l ab le in cages to eager buyers , a re now exceed ing ly ra re in the remnants o f Indones i a ’ s fo rests , fo r examp le.

To reduce the consternation and criticism of international tourists, Yogyakarta’s wildlife market

was moved more out of sight – away from its previous location next the frequently visited old

royal palace. Nevertheless, enterprising Indonesian young men on motorcycles still bring Western

tourists to the market’s new location

. A young German woman, w i th a Lone ly P lanet Indones ia gu idebook tucked in her purse, was

eager ly tak ing photos o f the cages, her very short short s and tanktop as much an a f f ront to Indones i a ’ s cu l tu ra l sens i t i v i t ie s in th i s conser vat i ve Mus l im c i ty as the appa l l ing cond i t i ons o f the traded an ima l s a re to

Westerners . An emblemat ic int roduct i on to the fus i on and con fus i on o f con f l i c t ing va lues in th i s

modern iz ing yet trad i t i on-bound country? 

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