Stop Exploiting Bird of Paradise as Trophies, Councilor Says

By Arjuna Pademme.

Bird of paradise (cenderawasih in local dialect) – Supplied

Jayapura,  – Chairman of Papua Legislative Council Yunus Wonda warned Papuan people and others against  exploiting the bird of paradise (cenderawasih in local dialect) as a trophy or head accessories for guests and officials who visit to Papua.

He said now the existence of bird-of-paradise, which is an endemic bird of Papua, is on the brink of extinction.

People kept killing the bird for accessories. People cannot just ignore this situation; all stakeholders should be involved in preventing the bird from extinction.

“Soon cenderawasih would be extinct if we don’t have efforts to protect it. By giving a headdress made by cenderawasih feather for guests including the officials during their visit to Papua is to show that we are unconsciously supporting its extinction,” Yunus Wonda told Jubi in Jayapura City on Wednesday (1/6/2016).

According to him, a method should be applied by the government to minimize the hunting over cenderawasih is by holding headdress competition using fake cenderawasih feather as souvenir for the guests and officials who visit to Papua. “The government should take actions to prevent cenderawasih from extinction. Please no longer use the real cenderawasih for headdress or souvenir for guests and officials,” he said.

He is concerned if no concrete efforts taken to protect the cenderewasih bird, the Papuan next generation would no longer know or see what the endemic bird of Papua look like. “Do not let it remains its name. If so, what else can we proud of? During the time how many cenderawasih birds have been killed for accessories,” he said. (pt/tabloidjubi.com)