JAKARTA: Indonesian authorities said Wednesday they had seized five komodo dragons and dozens of other animals being sold on Facebook, as the country battles to clamp down on the illegal wildlife trade.
The vast Southeast Asian archipelago nation’s dense tropical rainforests boast some of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world and it has for years been a key source and transit point for animal trafficking.
Five smugglers, identified only by their initials, were arrested in Semarang and Surabaya on Java island for allegedly trafficking the komodos — the world’s biggest lizard — along with bearcats, cockatoos and cassowary birds.
“The suspect VS sold the komodos online through Facebook,” East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said in a statement.
The dragons, which can only be found in their natural habitat on a cluster of islands in eastern Indonesia, were sold for between 15 and 20 million rupiah ($1,000-$1,400), Mangera said.
In a separate case, three other people were arrested in East Java over the alleged online sale of otters, leopard cats and pangolin, Mangera said.
If convicted, the smugglers could face up to five years in prison and a 100-million-rupiah fine.
The haul of komodo dragons comes just a day after authorities seized more than 5,000 endangered pig-nosed turtles from smugglers in Indonesia’s easternmost province Papua.
The pig-nosed turtle — which has a distinctive snout-like nose and webbed feet — is only found in Australia and New Guinea, an island shared between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, and is protected under Indonesian conservation laws.
Indonesia’s illegal trade in wildlife along with habitat loss has driven numerous endangered species, from the Sumatran elephant to the orangutan, to the brink of extinction.
Authorities in Bali, a popular holiday island, last week arrested a Russian tourist who attempted to smuggle a drugged orangutan out of Indonesia in his suitcase to keep as a pet.
Indonesia foils illegal Facebook sale of komodo dragons
Indonesia foils illegal Facebook sale of komodo dragons
- The vast Southeast Asian archipelago nation’s dense tropical rainforests boast some of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world
- Five smugglers were arrested in Semarang and Surabaya on Java island for allegedly trafficking the komodos
Ilia Malinin hints at ‘inevitable crash’ amid Olympic pressure and online hate in social media post
- He says Olympic pressure and online hate have weighed on him. He described negative thoughts and past trauma flooding in during his skate
- He later congratulated the surprise champion, Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan
MILAN: Ilia Malinin posted a video on social media Monday juxtaposing images of his many triumphs with a black-and-white image of the US figure skater with his head buried in his hands, and a caption hinting at an “inevitable crash” amid the pressure of the Olympics while teasing that a “version of the story” is coming on Saturday.
That is when Malinin is expected to skate in the traditional exhibition gala to wrap up the Olympic figure skating program.
Malinin, who helped the US clinch the team gold medal early in the Winter Games, was the heavy favorite to add another gold in the individual event. But he fell twice and struggled throughout his free skate on Friday, ending up in eighth.
He acknowledged afterward that the pressure of the Olympics had worn him down, saying: “I didn’t really know how to handle it.”
Malinin alluded again to the weight he felt while competing in Milan in the caption to his social media video.
“On the world’s biggest stage, those who appear the strongest may still be fighting invisible battles on the inside,” wrote the 21-year-old Malinin. “Even your happiest memories can end up tainted by the noise. Vile online hatred attacks the mind and fear lures it into the darkness, no matter how hard you try to stay sane through the endless insurmountable pressure. It all builds up as these moments flash before your eyes, resulting in an inevitable crash.”
Malinin, who is expected to chase a third consecutive world title next month in Prague, had been unbeaten in 14 events over more than two years. Yet while Malinin always seemed to exude a preternatural calm that belied his age, the son of Olympic skaters Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov had admitted early in the Winter Games that he was feeling the pressure.
The first time came after an uneven short program in the team event, when he finished behind Yuma Kagiyama of Japan — the eventual individual silver medalist. Malinin referenced the strain of the Olympics again after the Americans had won the team gold medal.
But he seemed to be the loose, confident Malinin that his fans had come to know after winning the individual short program. He even playfully faked that he was about to do a risky backflip on the carpeted runway during his free skate introduction.
The program got off to a good start with a quad lutz, but the problems began when he bailed out of his quad axel. He ended up falling twice later in the program, and the resulting score was his worst since the US International Classic in September 2022.
Malinin was magnanimous afterward, hugging and congratulating surprise gold medalist Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan. He then answered a barrage of questions from reporters with poise and maturity that few would have had in such a situation.
“The nerves just went, so overwhelming,” he said, “and especially going into that starting pose, I just felt like all the traumatic moments of my life really just started flooding my head. So many negative thoughts that flooded into there and I could not handle it.”
“All I know is that it wasn’t my best skate,” Malinin added later, “and it was definitely something I wasn’t expecting. And it’s done, so I can’t go back and change it, even though I would love to.”
