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One Year Sentence for Indonesian Parrot Trader
October 2009 (Indonesia) - ProFauna Newsletter Report

As reported in our monthly newsletter, the East Java Police Department with the assistances provided by ProFauna Indonesia, have conducted three successful parrot confiscation operations in May, June, and October 2009. In the first confiscation in a trader’s stock house in Surabaya- the capital of East Java Province where the city is notorious as the largest hub of parrot smuggling in Indonesia, on 7 May 2009, the team succeeded in revealing the parrot syndicate which led to the two following confiscations. ProFauna has been monitoring the cases, sending supportive letters to, and doing communication with the authorities to enforce the wildlife law.

According to the 1990 law number 5 concerning the Conservations of the Natural Resources and the Ecosystems, the trade of protected wildlife, including some parrots, is prohibited and violators are liable to a maximum five year prison term and 100 million IDR (10,000 USD) fine. Contrary to ProFauna’s records showing that the judicial system do not take wildlife crime as serious offence and punishments are always too small, the suspect of the first operation in May 2009, a parrot trader possessing: 26 protected animals consisting of 10 black-capped Lories (Lorius lory); 13 Sulphur-crested Cockatoos (Cacatua galerita); and three Goffin Cockatoos (Cacatua goffini), pleaded guilty and received one year sentence.

This is good news for law enforcement in Indonesia, as the authorities have started implementing the law firmer. Not only it deters the perpetrator himself but also discourages other wildlife traders from committing the illegal trade. Based on ProFauna’s survey on bird markets, confiscation operations also prevent traders to display the protected animals in the markets meaning that this will also reduce the illegal trade in the market that happens openly. In addition, the authorities implementing such law enforcement should become role model within other government agencies in other regions in Indonesia in order to tackle wildlife crime in the country hand-in-hand with NGOs like ProFauna.

Butet Sitohang
International Communication Officer – ProFauna Indonesia

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