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Yesterday we received another shipment of confiscated parrots that had been smuggled to the Philippines. This picture beneath shows the enormous effort that is needed to realize the transport. We need permits from the customs, quarantine, airport authority, ministry of forestry, etc. So today I would like you what Billy Lolowang and his team at Tasikoki have been struggling with for the last few months only. And now only showing the birds, not even other species like orangutan, macaques, turtles, etc. Below the report of 19/10/2023.
Here we see representatives of all kinds of government agencies involved in the return of confiscated wildlife from The Philippines. Our doctor Aviva is the one wearing the mask and Billy Lolowang, our Masarang Tasikoki manager is standing on the far left.
Nothing can be done without official documents. Billy signing for receiving the new arrivals.
Now it is time to unload the poor birds and give them the best possible care under what we can do with our facilities and staff.
On the picture, Masarang’s Tasikoki vet drh Avivah with part of the new arrivals. We already received several shipments with hundreds of protected Indonesian wildlife, including tree kangaroos, turtles and many more species that were confiscated in The Philippines. Last July we took in 91 animals of 15 species from the Philippines. Unfortunately hundreds more are to arrive still this year and next year. This comes on top of all the locally intercepted smuggling attempts that also resulted in hundreds of new animals at our Tasikoki wildlife rescue and education center. It is hard to budget for this continuous stream of new arrivals both needing additional cages and food and expensive medical care. For now we do not have enough space so are hoping to receive enough support before the end of the official 30 day quarantine during which time we have to keep the birds isolated in their transport cages as can be seen in the image below. Especially so because the highly contagious PBFD virus was found to have infected some of the most recent confiscations so these birds are still occupying the bird quarantine facility.
On the left the condition of the new arrivals. Far from ideal, but if not confiscated many more birds will be caught and smuggled and die as that will only increase wildlife trade even more. All the private zoos in the province closed over Covid with huge losses of life of so many animals. The ministry of forestry does not have the facilities to take them in either. We are the only rescue center in this strategic hotspot of international wildlife smuggle. Also the government bureaucratic system is very cumbersome in that they cannot revise their budget in a short time due to their obligation to stick to ther#ir agreed budget.
Below another confiscation of 71 (five birds had died before arrival), this time in the harbor of Manado, comprising 71 surviving red and blue lory birds. They were intercepted from the KM Barcelona boat that serves the connection Talaud-Manado on September 29th. The way the birds were stuffed in bottles and boxes was similar to the many birds confiscated on July 20th. The way the birds were shipped without an accompanying person was also the same, and obviously whoever was awaiting the birds in Manado realized our presence and just let go of the birds instead of risking capture.
And below another example of the smuggling of birds from Talaud on August 28th, This time in the harbor of Bitung.
And here some pictures of the confiscations on July 7th which was special in that the special water police unit rescued these birds from a boat at sea. More and more institutions are supporting the cause of fighting wildlife locally but we have a huge bottleneck in the capability, facilities and finance to handle these hundreds and hundreds of arrivals. We already sent so many birds back after health checks to Papua, the Moluccas, Kalimantan and other places but the amount is overwhelming.
Sadly I could go on and on, going further back in time or discussing the other rescued wildlife but I think the reader can get the picture. Through our intensified intelligence and good cooperation with other parties, including other NGO’s like WCS, we will for sure get many more birds to rescue.
Many of them have lost their wing tips or refuse to fly after long captivity. For such birds we hope to develop our Salimburung bird island sanctuary, only a 20 minute boat ride from our Temboan area, where we hope to relocate at least part of the Tasikoki center. But that development, which could provide a forest sanctuary for many of the non-releasable birds is going to need more fundraising.
Willie Smits,
October 20th, 2023
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