Why is the Javan Rusa endangered?

Answer 1

Java has highly fragmented natural habitats and has done for centuries, reflecting longstanding high human population densities. Many protected areas were established during the Dutch colonial period but from independence up until the 1970s they were largely under-funded and neglected. After hosting the World Parks Conference in 1982, the Indonesian government gazetted a swathe of national parks and more structured conservation planning began, funded by the World Bank and other donors. The focus was largely on the 'multi-function' national parks and much money was spent on infrastructure, some staff training and increased personnel. The 'lesser' protected areas such as "game reserves" and "nature reserves" still had few staff and resources, and that has continued to the present. There was some habitat loss from protected areas through illegal logging, agricultural encroachment and other offtake, but the national parks of Java (several of which contain ideal habitat for Javan Rusa and, at least into the mid 1990s, very large populations) remained remarkably intact for much of the period. During the 1980s and early to mid 1990s guns were tightly controlled and the military and police were feared and respected. The strong culture of caged bird keeping meant that hunting, including that within protected areas, was primarily for birds and some small game, through various forms of trapping, including snaring. Thus there was relatively little hunting of Javan Rusa and populations were stable or even increasing. Socio-political changes from 1997 led to a reduction in the respect for the police and military and the rise of a viewpoint that protected areas were the peoples' resources and would therefore benefit from decentralised management (M. Tyson pers. comm. 2008). This policy change, which risked a ?tragedy of the commons?, has indeed led to increased habitat destruction and poaching in the past decade. The Javan Rusa, as a large deer, is particularly threatened by this rapid rise in illegal hunting (S. Hedges pers. comm. 2008) and also by expansion of agriculture on Java and other forms of encroachment (G. Semiadi pers. comm.; S. Hedges pers. comm. 2008.). In Java, this deer is poached with snares and dogs, but mostly with guns in the late 1990s and 2000s (S. Hedges pers. comm. 2008). The Javan Rusa is now seen as a source of extra income and of animal protein by many local communities despite being legally protected (Semiadi 2006) and coupled with the decentralisation of conservation management decisions and actions, macro-economic fluctuations and reduced authority of The Law, this impedes control of illegal hunting (S. Hedges pers. comm. 2008). Poaching has reportedly reduced numbers at Baluran National Park, formerly the largest population within the native range, and more widely across Java, but data are insufficient to determine rate of decline (E. Meijaard pers. comm. 2008). Similar trends are likely on Bali. In the rest of its Indonesian range, e.g. Sulawesi, where it is introduced and thus populations are not used in assessing the Red List category, it is also heavily hunted and there were major population declines in the late 1990s, although at least on Sulawesi the population is now in slow recovery (G. Semiadi 2006 pers. comm. 2008). Poaching of this species in its native range is for meat, medicinal products (some traded internationally), handicrafts products, and, locally, pets.

During the 1980s?1990s, when poaching and land conversion were relatively well under control in Javan national parks, the chief threat to the large population of Javan Rusa in Baluran National Park was loss of grazing area to invasion by the introduced treeAcacia nilotica(Leguminosae) that converts open grassland to dense thorny scrub-forest. This plant was introduced (without adequate risk assessment) as part of an attempt to create a living fire-break around the park's grasslands, wild fire then being adjudged the major threat to the park?s monsoon forests. Since that introduction, repeated cutting of the acacia has led to coppicing into very dense thickets that contain little or no grass or other herbs and are difficult for the deer to penetrate. Thus habitat loss and poaching are now serious limiting factors in Baluran National Park, and habitat loss/degradation remains a severe long-term threat to be addressed (S. Hedges pers. comm. 2008).Lantana camara(Verbenaceae) is also a problem in Javan Rusa habitat in Baluran National Park and elsewhere on Java (S. Hedges pers. comm. 2008).