ProFauna Staged A Demonstration by the Forestry Department Building Protesting the Trade of Primate Meat

ProFauna activists staged a unique demonstration by the entrance gate of the Forestry Department Building in Jakarta protesting the trade of primate meat (4 July 2012). In the street act largely covered by media, the activists put a desk with a woman covered in fake blood on top of it. Behind the desk, there were some men sitting and eating satay (skewered and grilled meat) with fake blood dripping from their mouths. The act was to illustrate that the trade of primate meat was cruel and like eating a human because humans and primates share almost similar morphology and physiology.

The investigation findings of ProFauna show that in Palembang City - South Sumatera and Jakarta, the trade of primate meat and brain remains high. The main consumers of the primate brain are sailors from Taiwan, China, Korea, and Vietnam. They believe primate meat and brain are aphrodisiac foods.

After staging the demonstration, ProFauna team met some officials of the Forestry Department. In the meeting, ProFauna urged the government to strictly enforce the law on the trade because the crime also included the trade of protected species like the slow loris and siamang. Full report of the primate trade as follows: The Illegal Primate Trade in Palembang - South Sumatera

Apart from the demonstration in front of the Forestry Ministry Building, ProFauna will run campaigns in several cities to increase public awareness not to buy primate. ProFauna Indonesia Chairman, Rosek Nursahid, stated, "ProFauna thinks that the public awareness campaigns are important in order to stop the primate trade. If the consumers decrease, the trade must decrease as well".