People Urged to Stop Hunting Gecko Following Rove Attacks

Surabaya, East Java - The Wild Animals Conservation Forum (FOKSI) in East Java has called on people to stop hunting geckos following current rove beetles' attacks in various parts of the province. East Java Foksi program manager Indra Harsaputra said here on Thursday that although it is among the protected animals, the gecko is a predator of rove beetles locally known as 'tomcat'. "Besides the damage of their habitat, tomcat attacks also occur because of a change in their natural sources of foods," he said. He noted that March 2012 has witnessed the peak of the productivity of the 'wereng' insect (nilapavarta lugnes stal), which is the tomcat's food. While the number of geckos, who are predators of the tomcat, has dropped sharply. He said there was no accurate data of the gecko population in Indonesia, but according to Forest Ecosystem Conservation of the Conservation Section of Sixth Region in Probolinggo, East Java, the number of geckos caught nationwide reaches 50,000. Indra said West Nusa Tenggara has the largest number of 10,000 geckos followed by East Java, Central Java and West Java respectively with 6,000 and the rest are spread across various regions. "In Probolinggo, a gecko hunter is able to catch 1,500 to 1,600 geckos in four days and there are several hunters there," he noted. He added that dried gecko meat could be sent to Hong Kong to be mixed with gecko meat from Thailand and Cambodia for being processed into a medicine. Gecko meat is useful for fighting cancer and curing skin diseases. Prof Wang from the Henan University in China in the World Journal of Gastroenterology (July 2008), says that gecko meat could increase immunity and also induce apoptosis of a tumor cell and suppress the protein expression of cancer development. Member of the People's Welfare Commission of the Surabaya city's legislative assembly, Masduki Toha, said the Surabaya city administration must take action in regard to the increasing number of gecko hunters. "This (gecko hunting) must be stopped," he said.(*)