REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SURABAYA -- Police will again question management of the zoo in Surabaya, East Java, in connection with the death of a 1.5 year old lion on January 7.
"We will again question some of the management, as we want to investigate the case thoroughly," head of crime investigation of the city's resort police command, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Farman, told newsmen at the command headquarters here on Saturday.
Police will use some recently disclosed information to continue the investigation, he said, adding that the results of the examination by a team from state Airlangga University could not be used as the basis of this investigation, since the police did not conduct their own autopsy on the lion.
He added that police believe the Surabaya Zoo's internal investigation and autopsy on the animal undermined Law number 5 of 1990 on conservation of natural resources and ecosystems.
"We think what they did violates the regulations. Based on the law, only PPNS (civil servant investigator), BKSDA (natural resource conservation agency) and the police have the authority to do this," he said.
In view of that, he said the Surabaya city police would begin investigating the case again by summoning some of the zoo's management board members for questioning.
"That will be the start of the investigation. We will investigate again as to what caused the death of the animal," he said.
Police have expressed regret over why the zoo management did not report the case as soon as they discovered the dead animal. Moreover, when the police arrived, the cage has been cleaned, he said.
The lion was found dead, hanging from a sling in its cage. Various suspicions emerged following the death of the animal, and the case has also become a national issue and attracted the central government's attention.
Following the incident, the city administration immediately reported the case to the police.
The secretary of the city administration, Hendro Gunawan, said after the incident the president director of the zoo accompanied by the chief of the city administration police reported the case to the police.
He said he hoped the cause behind the animal's death, as well as who the perpetrator is, if indeed the animal had deliberately been killed, could be revealed.
Some animal advocates in the city have also demanded that local police immediately investigate the case.
An environmental expert from the Surabaya-based Airlangga University, Dr Suparto Wijoyo, has called for an immediate investigation of the case involving the BKSDA and the police to determine whether the animal died of natural causes.
"I was startled and sad to see continuing deaths of animals at the zoo. If they are not stopped, the zone could turn into a zoo of carcasses," he said.
Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika