INDONESIA: The poor treatment of horses may threaten tourism on remote Indonesian islands

Record ID: 723406

  • Title: INDONESIA: The poor treatment of horses may threaten tourism on remote Indonesian islands
  • Date: 9th June 2010
  • Summary: JAKARTA, INDONESIA (JUNE 8, 2010) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) JAKARTA ANIMAL AID NETWORK CONSERVATIONIST, FEMKE DEN HAAS SAYING: "The improvement don't need to cost a lot of money. It's more a matter of putting all the forces together, setting up a good management and enforcing the new regulation, basically that's all. So the horses should have a rest every two hours, they should be able to have a resting ground where they can graze, where they can play, because the horses need that too. And they need fresh water." GILI TRAWANGAN, WEST NUSA TENGGARA PROVINCE, INDONESIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) TOURIST RIDING BICYCLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST IAN SAYING: "We like the freedom of the bike, so we tour the island and move around to what we want to see." MATARAM, WEST NUSA TENGGARA PROVINCE, INDONESIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) WEST NUSA TENGGARA PROVINCE GOVERNOR OFFICE HEAD OF WEST NUSATENGGARA TOURISM OFFICE, LALU GITA ARIYADI TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) HEAD OF WEST NUSATENGGARA TOURISM OFFICE, LALU GITA ARIYADI, SAYING: "I haven't seen any drops in tourist arrivals yet, but we know that the complaints could bring a negative impact. Therefore, we are doing something about it." VARIOUS OF HORSE CARRIAGE
  • Embargoed: 24th June 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Indonesia
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: Industry,Travel / Tourism
  • Reuters ID: LVA1V69IYQ8MPJCNBNKLNWBQRMH
  • Story Text: Carriage horses working long hours with little water, rest, or medical care has begun to concern activists and local officials on the remote resort Indonesian islands of Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air.
    The activists fear the poor treatment of the animals could prevent people from visiting the motor vehicle-free islands. They are calling on the government to improve the conditions for the horses.
    Last month, the Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN) released a statement about the horses, the island's main transportation. According to JAAN, the horses are not provided with fresh water or proper shelter. The organisation said government needs to enact new rules to protect the horses.
    Simone Sauren is a biologist who works closely with horse owners to educate them about the proper care of horses. She said the horse owners have done their best despite the limitations on the island.
    "They do actually the best they can. On the island we don't have a vet. So with no veterinarian for the horses, all the owners of the horses really have to learn from each other and there is no help from outside. So they have to learn from their own experience, what is the best food, what they should do when the horse is sick, what they should do with the water because we all live in a small island and there is hardly any fresh water. So it is really difficult to find fresh water for the horses," said Sauren.
    She added there is a horse owner cooperative which allows owners to share information.
    According to Sauren, many of the horses on the island are shoeless, and recently the cooperative called a blacksmith to make horseshoes. She said the cooperative has also helped horse owners buy quality grass to feed the horses, and only allows the 32 horses on the island to work five hours a day.
    Tourists on the islands have expressed some concern about the health of the horses.
    "The horses looked like they got tired. They work for many hours from what I gather. They are probably (working) 18 out of 24 hours," said an Australian tourist, Melissa.
    JAAN co-founder, Femke den Haas said the organisation conducted a 10-day survey in April of this year and found that many tourists cut short their trip to the island after seeing the condition of the horses.
    "Some people are leaving earlier because they don't agree with the way the horses are treated. So I am very positive and very sure that it will have a big effect on the tourist industry on Gili Trawangan and Gili Air and Gili Meno if nothing is improved," said den Haas. She added the government must act quickly if it wants to maintain Gilis' reputation as a paradise.
    "The improvement doesn't need to cost a lot of money. It's more a matter of putting all the forces together, setting up a good management and enforcing the new regulation, basically that's all. So the horses should have a rest every two hours, they should be able to have a resting ground where they can graze, where they can play because the horses need that too. And they need fresh water," added den Haas.
    Horse carriages and bicycles are the only transportation on the island, and some tourists said they prefer to use bicycles.
    "We like the freedom of the bike, so we tour the island and move around to what we want to see," said Ian, a tourist from Melbourne, Australia.
    Lalu Gita Ariyadi, head of provincial tourism office, said some steps have been taken after reading about the JAAN survey in the newspaper. Ariyadi said the Governor has sent a veterinarian, nurse and a blacksmith to the Gilis to take care of the horses.
    Ariyadi added total tourist arrivals were up to 620,000 last year from 544,000 in 2008.
    "I haven't seen any drops in tourists arrivals yet, but we know that the complaints could bring a negative impact. Therefore, we are doing something about it," said Ariyadi.
    The three Gili, means small in local language, islands off Lombok's north-west coast are a popular draw for tourists with their deserted island beaches, coral reef diving, and evening parties.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register