200 Hectares Of Land In Lampung National Park Burned, Hundreds Of Animals Protected Dead

About 200 hectares more land in TNWK has been burned to the ground in the last two months. In addition, many protected animals were found dead, Thursday, October 6, 2023

EAST LAMPUNG - Forest and land fires (karhutla) in the Way Kambas National Park Forest area (TNWK) East Lampung, Lampung continues. As a result of the forest and land fires, more than 200 hectares of land in TNWK were burned to the ground in the last two months. In addition, many protected animals were found dead. The last forest and land fires in the Way Kambas National Park (TNWK) area occurred from Monday 2 to Tuesday 3 October. After being completely extinguished, the hotspots reappeared on Wednesday 4 October, at around 14.00 WIB. The hotspots were successfully extinguished on Wednesday night at around 22.00 WIB. From the forest fire incident in the TNWK forest area that occurred within two months, there were at least six land points out of a total of 200 hectares of burned land. As a result of forest and land fires in the TNWK, a number of protected animals were found dead. From the photo documents of the TNWK, protected animals burned to death, including pangolins and other melalata animals that only left bones and bones. it is difficult to identify. The fire in the TNWK forest area is suspected to be the act of wild hunters who deliberately burned the land to set traps. In addition to the hot weather and strong winds, joint officers also had difficulty extinguishing the fire due to the absence of water sources at the location of the burning land. TNWK Lampung Public Relations, Sukatmoko said, over the past two months, the area of land in the burning TNWK area has reached around 200 hectares. Karhutla was observed to have occurred at six points in six points. three locations, namely Section 1 Way Kanan, Section 2 Bungur, and Section 3 Kuala Penet. The cause of the total extinction of 200 hectares of TNWK land, namely the act of humans who deliberately carry out illegal activities in the forest burning land for certain purposes such as hunting animals. "This wildlife hunter deliberately burned the land, because it made it easier for them (buryers) to set traps when wild flares began to grow again," said Sukatmoko, Thursday, October 5. Sukatmoko explained, to overcome it Karhutla in the TNWK area, his party is working with the TNI-Polri to hunt down the perpetrators of the burning of land in the TNWK area. forest farmer group, Pokdarwis Braja Harjosari, and others. "Since last night until this afternoon, the joint team is still on guard to monitor the location that caught fire to ensure that there are no more new fire and hotspots. It is possible that the fire could reappear because of the location that caught fire in the peat swamp," said Sukatmoko. Sukatmoko stated that the location of the fire in the TNWK area was not a core zone but a swampy vegetation area and opened up with vegetation of weeds and vegetables. bush. Fires have a negative impact on animals in the TNWK, although not with key animals such as elephants, rhinos, and tigers.

"This fire that occurred scorched the shrubs made a number of jasmine animals become victims such as pangolins, snakes and poultry that could not fly. The animals that died on fire, could not be recognized because they only left ashes and bones," concluded Sukatmoko. TNWK continues to coordinate with the National Police and the TNI and related agencies to handle forest and land fires and conduct investigations to hunt down illegal hunters suspected of being the perpetrators of land burning in the TNWK forest area, Lampung.