Releasing Dozens of Birds Trapped in Net in Cungkup Protection Forest

A joint team of PROFAUNA Indonesia and Forestry Management Office rescued sixteen birds trapped in the net in the Cungkup protected forest, Ngantang, Malang Regency on Wednesday (2/8/2023). The birds were caught from the forest area using nets and sap by two locals of Pagersari Village: Satria and Yogi.

The encounter of two bird hunters in the forest area began with a routine forest patrol carried out by the PROFAUNA Indonesia team and Sekar Forestry Management Office. When the team was resting in the middle of the forest, suddenly two people appeared riding two motorcycles carrying bags made of cloth. After being inspected, the bag turned out to contain birds that had just been caught from the forest area.

"Catching any type of bird in the forest area without a permit is prohibited and there is a criminal sanction of 1 year imprisonment. But if it is a protected bird species, it can be sentenced to 5 years imprisonment," explained Achar Fachrudin, PROFAUNA's field staff who participated in the forest patrol.

Because the newly caught birds were considered still wild, they were immediately released back into the forest. As soon as the cloth bag where the bird was stored, the dozen birds immediately flew up to the trees.

"We would like to thank the PROFAUNA team for conducting this forest patrol together. Regular patrols, especially in the dry season, are very important so that there is no poaching of animals and also prevent forest fires," said Purdianto, head of Forestry Management of Sekar Sub District.

Two People Carrying Rifles Were Caught Red-Handed

In addition to handling the problem of people catching birds with nets, the PROFAUNA and Forestry Management Office teams also caught two people who wanted to hunt animals in the forest area. They were carrying air guns or rifles and are sneaking around targeting the wildlife.

Knowing the two people carrying the rifles, the joint team interrogated and asked the hunters for information. It turned out that the hunters had not yet found any wildlife, because they had just arrived at the forest.

Because there was no evidence of the hunted animals, the two hunters from Blitar Regency were asked to leave the forest area. In addition, the team also provided education that hunting any type of animal in the forest area is prohibited.

"This is the importance of regular forest patrols, to prevent violations such as animal hunting, because it is better to prevent than to deal with problems that have already occurred," said Fachrudin.