Antara 21 Mar 17;
Manado (ANTARA News) - The conservation agency of North Sulawesi and Gorontalo Provinces will improve the protection of four endangered animals, including the Anoa, hogdeer, Yaki, and Maleo, head of the body, Agustinus Rante Lembang, said here on Monday.
The agency has committed to oversee these species in the wildlife, as the number of the endemic animals keeps declining due to the illegal hunting for trading or consumption, Lembang added.
The agency had previously been regularly conducting a patrol to safeguard the animals.
"We have cooperated with other institutions, including the police, to oversee some vulnerable spots," he noted.
Concerning the endemic status of the animals, we hope the poachers could reduce their hunting activities to prevent them from being extinct, he remarked.
Anoa (Bubalus quarlesi), Maleo (Macrocephalon maleo), and the hogdeer or "babirusa" are the countrys native animals that have inhabited the Sulawesi Island, the nearby Buton Island, and Togean Island.
Meanwhile, the Yaki, or the Sulawesi crested macaque, has been thriving only in the Tangkoko Reserve in the islands northeast.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has labeled Anoa as an endangered animal since 1986 until 2008.
The species has been included in the Red List of endangered animals, because the estimated population only reaches less than 2.5 thousand mature individuals, the union stated in its official website.
The union predicts that the rate of decline could be greater than 20 percent over the next two generations of 14 to 18 years.
Hunting for food as well as land conversion, from forest to agriculture lands or gold mining areas, have been considered as major threats to the animals existence in the wildlife, the union reiterated.(*)
