Silvery gibbon mother Pangrango holds her baby at the Tierpark Hellabrunn in Munich, southern Germany in this September 2012 file photo. (AFP Photo/Frank Leonhardt)
Balikpapan. Wildlife authorities in East Kalimantan have seized an endangered gray gibbon from the home of the Balikpapan City Council speaker, the latest in a series of seizures of protected species within the province, Jakarta Globe reported news.
Danang Anggoro, the head of conservation at the provincial natural resources conservation agency, or BKSDA, said on Thursday that the primate, aged between seven and 10 years, appeared to have been kept at the home of Andi Burhanuddin Solong for seven years.
Andi, the province’s top legislator, was reportedly out of town during the seizure.
Danang said that the BKSDA had previously asked the speaker to hand over the animal, but Andi had refused on the grounds that he had been taking care of it and there was no need to return it to the wild.
“At first he insisted that he wouldn’t give us the gibbon, but after we explained to him that the gray gibbon is a protected species, he finally relented and allowed us to take the animal,” he said.
He added that because Andi had agreed to give up the gibbon, and the animal appeared to be well-fed and in good health, the city councilor would not face any charges for illegal possession of wildlife.
“There are certain conditions for which we won’t press charges, and those include whether the person has been cooperative in handing over the animal and what kind of condition the animal is in,” Danang said.
“I only hope that more people who are keeping gray gibbons and other protected species will come forward.”
He added that the rescued gibbon would be placed at the BKSDA’s Gunung Bayan rehabilitation center, just outside Balikpapan, to prepare for its eventual release into the wild.
Jum Ali, the City Council secretary, said the councilors knew that Andi was keeping a gibbon at his home, but claimed that none of them were aware that it was illegal to keep the monkey as a pet.
The seizure of the councilor’s gibbon marks the latest recent recovery of protected wildlife being kept as pets. Since the start of the year, the East Kalimantan BKSDA has seized four other gray gibbons, three orangutans and seven hornbills.