PLEASE STOP THE SMUGGLING OF INDONESIAN COCKATOOS AND PARROTS:
A Petition to Your Excellency, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

As Citizens of Indonesia and the World, we offer this Petition to you, as the newly elected President of Indonesia. We request that Your Excellency use the powers of his office to protect the parrots, cockatoos and other endangered birds of Indonesia. Many of these remarkable creatures are found nowhere else on Earth yet they are approaching irrevocable extinction.

Based on the findings outlined below this Petition, we humbly but urgently request that you:

1. Declare the endangered cockatoos and parrots of Indonesia
to be Harta Karun Indonesia ( Hidden Treasures of Indonesia )
2. End ALL trapping of cockatoos, parrots, lories, and lorikeets
(including cessation of the issuance of all special licenses),
with ZERO TOLERANCE
3. Ban export of wild-caught birds and confiscate birds sold
illegally at Indonesian bird markets, with ZERO TOLERANCE
4. Ban taking of wildlife as oleh-oleh (souvenirs) by members of
the Indonesian Military during or after tours of duty,
with ZERO TOLERANCE
5. Increase the funding, and the number of officers, for
appropriate departments to fight these offences
6. Make it illegal for Indonesian airlines to transport any
wildlife protected by law (except where needed for veterinary
care), with ZERO TOLERANCE
7. Set severe penalties for government Conservation Officers
who issue illegal permits, ignore quotas, or themselves perpetuate
the illegal bird trade, with ZERO TOLERANCE
8. Deliver confiscated birds to non-governmental Wildlife Transit
Centers and Care Centers (PPS and PTS) which have the
facilities and expertise to rehabilitate, and potentiately
release back into the wild, illegally gotten wildlife
9. Revoke the licenses of bird dealers acting illegally,
with ZERO TOLERANCE

SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
In 2001-2002, ProFauna Indonesia (a group of young, courageous volunteers) carried out an undercover investigation of the illegal trade in Indonesian cockatoos, parrots, and lories. The findings were shocking. These endangered birds were being trapped in large numbers using brutal and painful methods. Their feathers were sometimes pulled out to prevent them from flying. The birds were transported under inhumane condition and sold openly in Indonesias infamous bird markets, in searing heat, in tiny cages, with inadequate (or no) food and water. As a direct response to these finding, a petition was directed to then-President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Forestry Minister Prakosa strongly urging enforcement of the protections accorded internationally and/or locally to many of these charismatic birds. This petition was signed by over 6800 people from over 50 countries in a few months.The results of this investigation and petition were limited, although (at least on paper) all exportation of parrots was declared illegal. However, since the major part of the trade in birds in Indonesia is internal, not via export, the problem would have persisted anyway.

This first undercover investigation focused mostly on the birds of the Northern Moluccas (such as the Umbrella Cockatoo) and of West Papua, in Eastern Indonesia. However, in 2003-2004, at the request of and with funding from Project Bird Watch, a second investigation was carried out to determine the status of bird smuggling on Seram Island. Seram is the only remaining home in the wild of the magnificent but endangered Salmon-crested cockatoo, which (at least on paper) is protected to the highest degree by both international law and Indonesian presidential proclamation.

The results were alarming and showed that little had changed since the first study. Ironically, one trapping site is the protected Manusela National Park; manu-sela means Bird of Freedom. The Seram cockatoos pass through the port of the nearby island of Ambon, where shipping permits can be illegally obtained for less than $5. They are then shipped to Jakarta squeezed in the middle section of three-part boxes, where the outer two sections are filled with lories and lorikeets to hide the presence of the cockatoos within. Of course, the cockatoos cannot eat, drink, move, and can barely breath during this trip; many die. Even worse, when individuals buy the birds directly from the market in Ambon, they often stuff them in thermos bottles to avoid detection. If illegally obtained birds are confiscated, they sometimes are kept by authorities or are actually turned over to animal exporters. Those traded openly at market are met with a blind eye by authorities. In a 6-month period, an estimated 9600 Seram cockatoos might have been sold.