Please Forestall Bird Hunting in R. Soerjo Grand Forest Park!

ProFauna's activists staged a demonstration in front of the office of R. Soerjo Grand Forest Park, Simpang Panji Suroso street, Malang, in protest of the raging bird hunting activity within the protected area (13/12/2013). In the demonstration, the activists blew whistles and honked some horns as a symbol of warning for the area administrator to preserve the wild birds inhabiting the conservation area. While doing so, the activists also displayed banners saying "Warning! Stop Bird Hunting in R. Soerjo Grand Forest Park".

ProFauna's campaign officer, Bayu Sandi, claimed "R. Soerjo Grand Forest Park is a conservation area which should be a sanctuary for wild birds. The administrator must thoroughly investigate the hunting practice using snares within their area." He also added that should it is proven that any member of the administrator is involved in this illicit activity, ProFauna demands the malefactor to be punished unequivocally.

ProFauna also admonishes that the priority concerning bird conservation in the grand forest park should be given to the conservation in their natural habitat, not in cages. ProFauna urges the administrator to knock down the cage built near the tourism site of Cangar, R. Soerjo Grand Forest Park.

The demonstration by the activists of ProFauna in the entrance of the administration office of R. Soerjo Grand Forest Park attracted the attention of the officials. After 30 minutes of noise-making, representatives of ProFauna -Bayu Sandi, Swasti Prawidya Mukti, and Darmanto- were invited to come in to the office of chief administrator of R. Soerjo Grand Forest Park, Rudhy Marojahan. In the dialog which was attended also by several journalists, the chief administrator explained, "The decision to construct the bird cage in Cangar tourism site is the authority of of the East Java Forest Service. To knock it down, we will wait for the instruction from the Forest Service, but we agree with ProFauna to keep it empty at the time being."

Mr. marojahan also promise to bolster the security within the conservation area, to prevent illegal poaching. "We are very thankful to have been reminded by ProFauna, and we wish to have future opportunities to collaborate with ProFauna in the wildlife conservation effort."