Indonesian zoo animals may starve
Print Edition
THOUSANDS of animals, including endangered Sumatran tigers and Bornean orangutans, are facing starvation at Indonesia’s zoos as the global pandemic pushes shuttered facilities toward collapse, officials say.
Some 60 cash-strapped animal parks — home to roughly 70,000 creatures — across the Southeast Asian archipelago have been shut since mid-March and most say they have only enough food until mid-May.
“Most zoos relied on ticket sales so when they closed everything collapsed,” said Indonesian Zoo Association spokesman Sulhan Syafi’i.
“We’ve had to rely on creativity to survive,” he added.
This month, a German zoo director warned some animals might have to be sacrificed to feed others, and Indonesia’s zoo association acknowledged a similar “worst-case scenario.”
“If a few more months pass and we don’t get any aid from the government or other international organizations, then with a heavy heart we’ll have to feed herbivores ... to the carnivores,” Syafi’i said.
Zoo keepers have taken up the task of collecting grass and plants to boost food stocks for giraffes and other herbivores.
Red-meat portions for tigers and other carnivores have been cut by supplementing their feed with poultry, he said.
And staff — already hit by slashed wages and working hours — have even dipped into their own personal chicken stocks. “That’s enough to extend the lifeline,” Syafi’i said.
But it won’t replace revenue generated by 50 million annual visitors at Indonesia’s zoos, and some are eyeing drastic measures as they rely on public donations and are seeking national emergency aid.
“We can put down wildlife that is not endemic” to Indonesia, Syafi’i said. “But for wildlife endemic to Indonesia, like Sumatran tigers, we must do whatever it takes to save them. It’s sad, but at this point we need to start thinking about priorities.”
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