Four Indonesians in Riau catch sun bear slaughter, then made into rendang curry

News24xx.com -  A tragic incident to animal occured in Riau, Indonesia. At that time, four residents in Riau are facing the threat of jail-time after admitting to catchin  and killing three sun bears.

The four men with the initials CS, GS, E and ZDS had caught the sun bears (Helarctos malayanus) with the use of traps before cooking them into rendang ( one of the typical Indonesian cuisine).

One of perpetrators, ZDS admitted to setting up 50 snares on March 18, 2018 to catch pigs together with his three friends. But, instead to catch pigs,  they found that one sun bear had been caught on March 31 2018. Not feel satisfied, they try to snares again and caught two more sun bears on April 1.

ZDS admitted he cook the meat bear became rendang, while his other friends turned the meat into soups and gulai (curry-like sauce). One of them, had uploaded a video of them skinning the bears and then cooking them on Facebook. And the video became viral and makes, they were arrested after the Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency learned of the incident through social media.

Local police chief Christian Rony said, "The four bears were caught in traps set by the suspects. The animals were then put into cages before being shot with an airgun."

 

But, the group of the men claimed they did not know that sun bears are protected animals both in Indonesia and internationally. One of them says that the bile from the bears' livers was also extracted as traditional medicine for breathing problems.

They face up to five years in jail and a fine of 100 million rupiah , under Indonesia's Conservation of Natural Resources and their Ecosystems (1990) law.

The sun bear - listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature - is the smallest of the bear species in the world and lives in South-east Asia's tropical forests and swamps. 

After many Indonesians open the land for oil palm plantations,  their population is in decline in Indonesia. Human-animal conflicts are common across the vast Indonesian archipelago, especially in areas where the clearing of rainforest to make way for palm oil plantations is destroying animals' habitats and bringing them into closer contact with people.

But attacks by the bear are rare in Indonesia.

 

 

 

 

 

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