JAKARTA. Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini has filed a report with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) accusing the former management of the Surabaya Zoo of possible graft and gross mismanagement resulting in the deaths of several exotic animals.

“There have been several groups [in the management] of Surabaya Zoo. The team isn’t solid and some action needs to be taken immediately,” Risma said ahead of a meeting with the KPK investigators. “We hope the KPK will help us.”

Risma alleged that there were groups within the management that had traded several animals in return for financial gain, which had sparked internal conflict.

Risma also said that signs of graft could be found in cases of missing endangered species.  “I have reported a team [within the management]. It is a powerful one,” Risma told reporters.

She declined to comment when asked if the powerful team she was referring included Tony Sumampouw, secretary-general of the Indonesian Zoo Animals Association (PKBSI), saying simply “there is a team”.

Before the Surabaya administration took over management of the zoo in July last year, the zoo was under the management of a team, which Risma referred to as “temporary”, led by Tony.

Risma said that the new management had recorded that around 420 animals were missing.

 “The zoo was previously managed by the Indonesian Zoo Animals Association. It is understandable if several animals died but we have never recorded any missing animals until very recently [when the Surabaya administration took over the management],” she was quoted as saying by tribunnews.com.

According to Risma, Tony’s team had demanded the city administration hand over animals in return for all facilities built under his tenure, a request that has triggered a new conflict at the zoo.

Responding to the report, KPK spokesman Johan Budi said that the anti-graft body would look into possible corruption at the zoo. The zoo is home to approximately 3,000 animals, 420 of which are protected species.

In recent years, the Surabaya Zoo has become notorious for its appalling conditions and the inhumane treatment of its animals.

In 2012, the Associated Press reported that approximately 15 animals at the zoo were dying every month — a figure that had actually decreased from two years earlier — due to preventable diseases, starvation, lack of exercise and overcrowding.

Also in 2012, the zoo’s last remaining giraffe, 30-year-old Kliwon, died with a 18-kilogram wad of plastic in its stomach.

A Sumatran tiger also died after being fed meat laced with formaldehyde.

Between July and September last year 43 animals were reported to have died.

Earlier this month, an 18-month-old male African lion named Michael was found hung to death in its cage, having been strangled by a loose steel cable.

Last week, a young mountain goat was also found dead in its cage. The animal was discovered by a zookeeper in the evening with bruises on its neck.

In 2010, the Forestry Ministry upended the zoo’s management and placed the zoo under the care of Tony and his team following a string of animal deaths.

An online petition calling for the zoo’s closure has to date obtained more than 73,000 signatures.

Andrea Perkins, who created the change.org petition, wrote: “This zoo must be SHUT DOWN PERMANENTLY.

“By signing this petition, you are telling [PKBSI head] Rahmat Shah, Tony Sumampouw and the entire populace of Indonesia that this type of aggression towards the creatures of this planet will NOT stand. It is time to put the animals first. They must be removed. And the Surabaya Zoo must cease to exist.” (Margareth S. Aritonang)

Editor: Asnil Amri