- Indonesian prosecutors are seeking a five-year-sentence for a poacher who confessed to participating in the killing of seven Javan rhinos.
- Experts say that while this sentence is the legal maximum and would be the longest they are aware of for a poaching offense in Indonesia, it remains too low to serve as a strong deterrent.
- As the trial continues, another alleged poacher has also been arrested in Ujung Kulon, the national park home to all of the world’s remaining Javan rhinos, a population believed to stand at fewer than 70 individuals.
Indonesian prosecutors are seeking a five-year jail sentence for a poacher who confessed to participating in killing seven Javan rhinos from 2019-2023, essentially wiping out at least 10% the species’ global population.
In a related development, police have arrested another alleged poacher in Ujung Kulon National Park, the sole remaining habitat for Javan rhinos.
Not a deterrent
The man currently on trial, Sunendi, is alleged to be part of a gang who slaughtered the rhinos for their horns, which are valued in parts of Asia as medicine. Police arrested a buyer and middleman as well, though a number of other alleged gang members are still at large.
The five-year sentence prosecutors are seeking is the maximum for wildlife poaching in Indonesia, although Sunendi also faces gun possession charges that carry a maximum sentence of death.
“Wildlife crime arrests and convictions are rare in Indonesia, so we are pleased that this criminal was caught and [potentially will be] sentenced at all,” said Nina Fascione, the head of the International Rhino Foundation (IRF).
In his trial, Sunendi, a 34-year-old from a village adjacent to the park, pleaded for leniency, saying his actions were driven by economic necessity.
In 2019, Ujung Kulon National Park reported a population of 72 rhinos. However that number came under fire last year after a scathing report found that the park was counting some dead rhinos. The report also warned that poachers had been entering the park, an allegation that has proven true with time.
“To the best of my knowledge this indictment is the longest [sentencing request] in the wildlife crime in Indonesia so far,” Timer Manurung, the founder and director of the NGO Auriga Nusantara and lead author of the report uncovering the false counting of Javan rhinos, said of Sunendi’s case. “However, as a conservationist I feel a bit disappointed with the low indictment because it potentially will not bring a significant deterrent effect.”
Several conservationists agreed that the five-year request, while the maximum in Indonesia, was too light to deter others from trying to kill more rhinos.
“The punishment does not fit the crime — the length of the [sentencing request], though one of the strongest we’re aware of for poaching in Indonesia, hardly begins to account for the seriousness of the transgression,” Fascione said. “Javan rhinos are one of the most imperiled species on the planet and it’s a travesty that the perpetrator [faces] such a light sentence for the combined charges of killing a critically endangered Javan rhino, theft and possession of a firearm in a national park.”
When arresting Sunendi, police also found automatic weapons, which are illegal in Indonesia for anyone not in the military.
An unseen crisis
Meanwhile, police have arrested a second suspected rhino poacher who had allegedly been operating inside Ujung Kulon National Park. It’s unclear whether the suspect, who was tracked and arrested after authorities found a cache of weapons inside the park, is affiliated with Sunendi’s gang. This arrest highlights that the park has truly been suffering from an unseen poaching crisis over the last few years.
Timer said the situation in Ujung Kulon represents a “big failure of the [environment] ministry, particularly its … undemocratic ways.” He called for greater transparency and improved relationships with scientists, along with stronger protection efforts and habitat improvement.
For decades conservationists have been calling on Indonesia to establish a second population of Javan rhinos in a different park on the island. But to date, nothing has been done on this front.
“The recent killing of seven Javan rhinos underscores the inadequacy of deterrents alone. Coordinated prevention, as well as post-crime harsher prosecution, is imperative,” said Francesco Nardelli, a rhino expert with the Asian Rhino Specialist Group at the IUCN, who described the five-year sentence request as an “alarming message of weakness.”
Banner image: A javan rhino in Ujung Kulon National Park. Image courtesy of Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
A single gang of poachers may have killed 10% of Javan rhinos since 2019
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