Arrested In Cianjur, Leopard Tutul Wahyu Released Again On Mount Salak Bogor

Illustration of the Javanese Leopard (ANTARA)

The Javanese Tutul Tigers named Wahyu were released into the wild on Mount Halimun Salak, Bogor Regency, West Java Province. Previously, Wahyu was arrested while entering a village in the Cianjur area.

Head of the West Java Natural Resources Conservation Center, Irawan Asaad, said that the area of the Geothermal Power Plant owned by Star Energy Geothermal Salak was considered suitable for Wahyu's new habitat, a leopard about six years old who was evacuated from a resident's village in 2017.

"In this place the feed is complete, the water source is maintained. Thank you to Star Energy. This is part of biodiversity conservation," said Irawan, quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, May 23.

He said that the release of the Javan leopard was part of a series of activities to welcome the 2023 National Nature Conservation Day.

"Hopefully this activity will make the ecosystem more balanced," he said.

The manager of the Cikananga Animal Rescue Center (PPSC) Cahyono Hidayat Subekti said Wahyu was evacuated from Cianjur Regency when he was 10 months old.

He said that at that time Wahyu was arrested by residents for entering the village environment.

When handed over to PPSC, according to him, Wahyu was weak and dehydrated.

"Everything is tied up, the animals are already weakly dehydrated. Then we take care to restore Wahyu's condition," he said.

Cahyono revealed that before being released into the wild, Wahyu was trained to survive in the wild.

"We made a large enough cage to prepare for release. We prepared him to survive... Interactions with humans are limited once," he said.

He hopes that Wahyu can survive with other wildlife on Mount Halimun Salak.

Director of Biodiversity Conservation of Species and Genetics of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Indra Exploitia Semiawan, said that the Javanese leopard population is estimated to cover 200 to 400 individuals.

"We are updating data from the Javan tiger population that is currently happening. So, we calculate it not from the census side, not one by one the Javan tigers are calculated, but from the population density," said Indra.

The release of the leopard Wahyu on Mount Halimun Salak was carried out by the West Java Natural Resources Conservation Center, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, and the Halimun-Salak National Park Office.