A 'cendrawasih' (bird-of-paradise) is seen at Taman Safari Indonesia (TSI) in Cisarua, Bogor, West Java. Wienda Parwitasari/THE JAKARTA POST
The global Covid-19 pandemic has put Indonesian animal conservation centres in jeopardy.
Conservation centres across the archipelago, especially in Bali, were struggling to cover the costs for food and medicine stocks for the animals as well as other expenses, the Indonesian Zoo Association (PKBSI) said on Saturday.
In March, all conservation centres in Indonesia were temporarily closed to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Although the centres have resumed operations with health protocol in place, the association said that revenue from visitors could not cover the expenses.
PKBSI chairman Rahman Shah said the conversation centres needed help from the government as well as local administrations, explaining that the PKBSI alone could not save them.
Currently, there are 57 conservation centres under the association. The centres are home to 68,933 animals of 4,912 species endemic to Indonesia or from other parts of the world.
A survey conducted by the PKBSI in April showed that 92 per cent of the association’s members in Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok and Kalimantan – 55 zoos – only had enough stock to feed their animals until mid-May.
The survey also found that only three zoos were able to provide food for one to three months, while only two had enough for more than three months.
Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the association had pursued various efforts to assist the conservation centres, such as food distribution to all centres and a fundraising programme called Food for Animals.
The latter was held to improve the living conditions of animals in zoos, especially those endemic to the country, such as the Sumatran tiger, the Bornean orangutan and Sumatran elephant.
However, all conservation centres and zoos still rely on revenue from admission tickets, which was greatly impacted by the temporary closure of the centres.
The PKBSI added that, although some zoos were managed by local administrations and funded by regional budgets, they still needed funds from ticket sales.
With regard to the revenue collected in the pre-coronavirus days, the PKBSI said that the funds had been used to build new facilities and cover expenses over the past five months, explaining that the operational costs for all conservation centres were around 35 billion rupiah ($2.4 million) per month.
THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
