Surabaya (ANTARA) - Surabaya city's administration will take over the management of the Surabaya Zoo immediately without waiting for a green light from the forestry ministry following a series of deaths among the zoo's animals lately. "We will take over the Surabaya Zoo. The land belongs to the city administration," Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini said when visiting the zoo here on Tuesday with in the company of Surabaya Police Chief Senior Commissioner Coki Manurung. The mayor planned to call a meeting with other regional leaders to discuss the takeover and the security arrangement during the take over process. "We plan to coordinate with other regional leaders this afternoon (Nov 8)," the mayor said. The zoo's bad management had caused many animals to die so far. The latest death was a 20-year old female Komodo dragon. Tri Rismaharini said she had data on the zoo's poor management under the Temporary Management Team (TPS) formed by the forestry ministry. Since the TPS took over the zoo's management, conditions in the zoo deteriorated leading to the death or disappearance of many animals. Chairman of the Surabaya Zoo's TPS Tony Sumampau, however, claimed that under the management of TPS, the zoo had managed to reduce the number of animal deaths from 479 in 2006 to 258 in 2007. In 2008, the number of animal deaths increased to 364 and in 2009 it dropped to 321. In 2010, there were 162 deaths up to September. "In principle we will do our best to minimize the deaths of animals in the Surabaya zoo," he said. Sumampau said most of the deaths were caused by the animals' old age, monitoring carelessness, conditions that were not good for the animals' welfare. (*)

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Editor : Edy M Yakub


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