The symbol of Indonesia is the mythical garuda eagle but the mascot of Jakarta is a very real bird that you could see soaring over the city. Unfortunately the ‘elang bondol,’ or brahminy kite, may well be nothing but a legend soon – at least in Jakarta anyway.
Indonesian Friends of the Animals (Ifota) is predicting that the brahminy kite is heading towards imminent extinction in the Jakartan wild. And humans are to blame.
“According to a survey done in 2004, the population of the brahminy kite in Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands), Jakarta, was only 15,” said Iofta Coordinator Marison Guciano, as quoted by Okezone yesterday.
“The brahminy kite is not a bird that likes to migrate. That’s why the reclamation of 17 man-made islands in North Jakarta [and the construction] mega projects there will destroy the brahminy kite’s habitat and will surely lead to the extinction of Jakarta’s mascot.”
So if Ifota is to be believed, the Jakarta provincial government will eventually end up killing its own mascot. Should that happen, the government might as well adopt the stray cat as the city’s mascot, since there are millions of them in the city and it’s doubtful they will go extinct anytime soon.
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