Officers Surprised During Inspection At Sorong Harbor, Found Smuggled Pythons, Monitor Monitors, Parrots

The West Papua BBKSDA team found 29 protected wild animals (Photo Via Antara)

WEST PAPUA - Police and PEH officers for Natural Resources Conservation Area I Sorong West Papua Natural Resources Conservation Center (BBKSDA) together with the Agricultural Quarantine Office thwarted efforts to smuggle protected wild animals out of Papua.

The 59 protected wild animals were successfully secured when they were about to be smuggled out of West Papua with KM Gunung Dempo, at the Port of Sorong City, February 28, 2021 at night.

The Acting (Plt) Head of the West Papua KSDA Center, Budi Mulyanto, when confirmed, confirmed this disclosure. The failure was the result of surveillance at the Port of Sorong together with agricultural quarantine and other stakeholders to prevent the illegal sale and circulation of wild animals.

"The 59 protected wild animals that have been secured are reptiles and birds, some of which are endemic to Papua Island," he explained in Sorong, Antara, Tuesday, March 2.

The details of the wildlife are, two parrot parrots (ecklectus roratus), one rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus), one Papuan butcher (Cracticus cassicus).

Then, 15 green pythons or Morelia viridis, 9 green lizards or Varanus prasinus, 14 Maluku lizards or Varanus indicus, one irian python or Apodaro papuana, 3 white-lip pythons or Leiophyton albertisi.

Others are the four-tailed tanjung flower monitor or Varanus salvadori, four of the Sepik monitor lizard or Varanus jobiensis, and the three blue spotted monitor lizard or Varanus macraei.

"The protected wildlife has been brought to the Agricultural Quarantine Office for health checks. And it is planned that March 2, 2022 or tomorrow the Agricultural Quarantine Office will release it to the media," he said.