In full swing: assessment of trade in orang-utans and ... - WWF UK

2002) and along Central Java's north coast (1998-2001), and
the findings from these are included.
Despite their name, bird markets on Java do not just sell
birds, but all kinds of other animals and their parts, as well.
Some bird markets have only a few shops or stalls and sell
only birds and a few other animals, whereas others consist
of over a hundred shops and stalls and offer a wide variety
of species. Many vendors sell mostly unprotected species,
but clearly some are specialized in offering those that are
protected. Unlike the situation 10 years ago, when many
protected primates were offered openly for sale, nowadays
few protected primates are openly displayed in wildlife
markets. When bird markets were visited, special
attention was given to those stalls and those traders that
offered non-protected primates (mostly Long-tailed
Macaques Macaca fascicularis and Pig-tailed Macaques M.
Long-tailed macaques Macaca fascicularis for sale
nemestrina, and various Leaf Monkeys Presbytis spp.), but
also legally protected Slow Loris Nycticebus coucang and
Ebony Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus auratus and protected birds (mostly various species of cockatoos and parrots, and
birds of prey), as it was expected that these vendors would most likely also sell gibbons and/or orang-utans, or would
have access to them.
Credit: Chris R. Shepherd/TRAFFIC Southeast Asia
Information from market vendors and local conservationists revealed that sometimes primates are offered for sale at
private homes. The total volume of primate trade within a city may rotate between individual market locations, and
market sellers often keep protected species at private residences (Malone et al. 2002a). In the past few years, it seems
that gibbons and orang-utans are increasingly sold from houses nearby the bird markets.
Most shops that display animals sell them as pets, but a few specialized shops, especially at the larger bird markets, do
sell animals for medicinal purposes. These animals (mostly fruit bats, squirrels, civets, and macaques) are either sold
alive or, upon request, can be slaughtered on the spot. These shops were visited to obtain information on whether or not
(parts of) gibbons and/or orang-utans were used as medicine.
Data from market surveys were solicited from various NGOs, students and researchers that were known to have
collected data at bird markets or that were otherwise involved in monitoring wildlife trade. These included, amongst
others, Yayasan WWF-Indonesia (Jakarta), ProFauna (Jakarta), YPAL and Konus (Bandung), Kutilang (Yogyakarta),
Pteropus vampyrus (Semarang), ProFauna (Malang), Kelompok Indonesia Hijau-3 (Surabaya), Kokokan and ProFauna
Bali (Denpasar).
As such, data was collated from 35 bird markets in 22 cities covering all four Javan provinces and Bali (Figure 1). In
all, 355 visits were made to these markets, covering a period of almost 200 months (see Annex I for full details).
IN FULL SWING:ASSESSMENT OF TRADE IN ORANGUTANS AND GIBBONS ON JAVA AND BALI,INDONESIA 10