President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo came under some criticism earlier this year when, despite his stated goal of trying to protect Indonesian wildlife, he bought 190 birds from the Pramuka Bird Market, which is notorious for its illegal wildlife trade, and released them at the Bogor Presidential Palace.
Today, in a belated celebration of International Day of Forests (March 21), Jokowi went to the Thousand Islands to release hundreds of newly hatched turtles into the sea and hundreds of rare birds into the wild. While he didn’t specifically address the previous criticism regarding the Pramuka Bird Market, Jokowi did at least clarify that the all of the birds – and other wildlife – he released are fit to roam in the wild.
“I’m often asked about this because I like to release birds in the Bogor Botanical Gardens. Have the birds been in quarantine beforehand? Have they been checked by veterinarians?” Jokowi said, as quoted by Detik.
“All birds that have been released have undergone the proper wildlife releasing procedures, including medical check ups by a team of veterinarians.”
It’s all well and good that Jokowi regularly releases captive birds into the wild, but all that work may be futile in the end if he doesn’t stop the problem at its source. A study released last year by the wildlife advocacy group Traffic found that some 19,000 birds consisting of 206 species were being sold in Jakarta’s three major bird markets: Barito, Jatinegara and Pramuka.
Perhaps the best thing that Jokowi could do to protect wildlife would be to close down those markets once and for all.
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