Some 6,000 animals in six animal protection centers across the country are in a state of neglect after the Indonesian Forest Ministry officially terminated its cooperation with the Gibbon Foundation last September, a spokesperson said.Over 3,000 of the 6,000 animals were turtles which had been moved to other animal reservation areas, the foundation`s vice director Hasudungan Pakpahan said here Thursday.
The six animal protection centers which are home to around 6,000 animals are located in Yogyakarta, Bali, North Sulawesi, and West Java provinces."The animals which are being kept in the six animal protection centers include those confiscated in raids and those handed voluntarily by their owners," he said.Pakpahan said the Forestry Ministry planned to take over the six animal protection centers last September when its cooperation with the foundation expired.However, the ministry had not implemented the plan until now, he said.The termination of the cooperation has made workers of the animal protection centers upset as there was no longer fund to feed the fauna, he said. The Forest Ministry`s Directorate General for Forest Protection and Nature Conservation announced last June it would stop its cooperation with the foundation in running the animal protection centers due to the absence of mutual trust.
The directorate general had cooperated with the foundation since 2002 under a cooperation agreement which will end in 2007.Under the agreement, the foundation had developed and managed animal protection centers to implement the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) resolution.Since 2002, the foundation had helped establish seven animal protection centers in Tegal Alur (Jakarta), Gadog and Cikananga (West Java), Yogyakarta, Patung Sewu (East Java), Bali and Tasekoki (North Sulawesi).With the termination, the ministry bans the foundation from conducting conservation activities and managing the centers.
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