name it, we’ll get it for you,’ Baki said, waving his mobile phone ‘You as if to show delivery was just a quick call away. birds, ‘Monkeys, turtles, orang-utans, whatever you want. Tigers and rhinos are a bit harder but shouldn’t be a problem.’ What was so shocking about this conversation was not that it was taking place I wasn’t so naive as – to think the problem of illegal animal trading had been solved but – how openly it was happening. The next shock came when we started discussing prices. Most of the species on offer are endangered, and so listed as protected, anyone caught trading them faces five years in prison and up to £7,000 in fines. like this, mister,’ Baki began, clearly trying to justify a ‘It’s very high price. are getting pretty hard to find these ‘Orang-utans days, so I’m going to have to charge you at least two million rupiah.’ Seeing the surprise on my face, he added hurriedly, we can ‘But offer you a discount.’ Baki had completely misunderstood my look. Two million rupiah a complete bargain, I thought, considering – there are perhaps only 15,000–20,000 orang-utans left in the wild. Someone trying to make a difference to all this is conservationist, Yunus Makasau, who runs an animal rescue centre. When I visited, there were three bears, several monkeys and four orang-utans. Two of these were seized in a raid on an illegal animal show at a local zoo. The zoorefused to comment on the case, but Yunus finds it hard to believe the people in charge knew nothing about it. can ‘How they not be aware of what is going on in their own zoo? This just shows the size of the problem we are facing.’
‘You name it, we’ll get it for you,’ Baki said, waving his mobile phone as if to show delivery was just a quick call away. ‘Monkeys, birds, turtles, orang-utans, whatever you want. Tigers and rhinos are a bit harder but shouldn’t be a problem.’ What was so shocking about this conversation was not that it was taking place – I wasn’t so naive as to think the problem of illegal animal trading had been solved – but how openly it was happening. The next shock came when we started discussing prices. Most of the species on offer are endangered, and so listed as protected, anyone caught trading them faces five years in prison and up to £7,000 in fines. ‘It’s like this, mister,’ Baki began, clearly trying to justify a very high price. ‘Orang-utans are getting pretty hard to find these days, so I’m going to have to charge you at least two million rupiah.’ Seeing the surprise on my face, he added hurriedly, ‘But we can offer you a discount.’ Baki had completely misunderstood my look. Two million rupiah – a complete bargain, I thought, considering there are perhaps only 15,000–20,000 orang-utans left in the wild. Someone trying to make a difference to all this is conservationist, Yunus Makasau, who runs an animal rescue centre. When I visited, there were three bears, several monkeys and four orang-utans. Two of these were seized in a raid on an illegal animal show at a local zoo. The zoorefused to comment on the case, but Yunus finds it hard to believe the people in charge knew nothing about it. ‘How can they not be aware of what is going on in their own zoo? This just shows the size of the problem we are facing.’
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