Car In-Car Tweets At Merak Port Initially Banten Quarantine Failed To Send 742 Wild Birds

JAKARTA - The Banten Quarantine Center thwarted efforts to send 742 wild birds without official documents at Merak Ferry Port, Cilegon City, Banten.

The head of the Banten Quarantine, Duma Sari, said that hundreds of wild animals were transported by travel from Bandar Lampung to Serang City.

According to him, this mode of sending wildlife without documents is not the first time this has happened and is a serious concern.

"Violations like this continue to repeat itself and become our serious concern at the Indonesian Quarantine Agency to continue to carry out surveillance as a form of biological defense and preserve nature," he said in Serang, Thursday, July 31, which was confiscated by Antara.

Duma explained that this discovery stems from the suspicion of officers while monitoring the unloading of the ship at pier 1 Merak Port at around 02.00 WIB. Quarantine officials were suspicious of a private car because a bird sounded from inside.

"After being stopped and checked, the driver was unable to show an Animal Health Certificate in accordance with Law Number 21 of 2019," he added.

From the results of the examination, officers found 25 boxes and 11 baskets containing a total of 742 birds of various types, such as kebo netizens, pleci, colibri, and several types of cucak. Several protected species were also found, including cililin, cucak ijo, and cucak branches.

After being confirmed to be healthy through the Avian Influenza rapid test, the Banten Quarantine coordinated with the Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) for further processing.

"Furthermore, we handed over the birds to the BKSDA and together they were released back to nature at the Rawa Danau Nature Reserve Office, Serang Regency," he explained.

He hopes that this action can provide a deterrent effect and educate the public to better comply with quarantine rules to prevent the extinction of wildlife and the spread of animal diseases.