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30 © University of Andalas / Copenhagen Zoo
Introduction
The Sulawesi Bear Cuscus Ailurops ursinus is
endemic to Indonesia, found only on Sulawesi and
surrounding islands of Butung, the Peleng Islands,
the Togian Islands, and possibly Muna (Flannery,
1995; Nowak, 1999; Salas et al, 2008). It is the
largest and most primitive species of the Family
Phalangeridae (Dwiyahreni et al, 1999) and one of
two species of this genus in Indonesia.
Protection from exploitation needed for the endemic
Sulawesi Bear Cuscus Ailurops ursinus in Indonesia
¹, Emerson Y. Sy², Jordi Janssen¹ and
¹Monitor Conservaon Research Society (Monitor), PO Box 200, Big Lake Ranch, B.C., V0L 1G0, Canada
²TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Corresponding author: Chris R. Shepherd, Email: chris.shepherd@mcrsociety.org
Very little is known of the natural history of this
species (Nowak, 1999) or of the conservation
status. The Sulawesi Bear Cuscus is currently
assessed as being Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List
of Threatened Species, with threats to its survival
including habitat loss, hunting by local people for
food, and capture for the pet trade (Salas et al,
2008). While trade is listed as a threat, the scale
and dynamics of the trade are relatively unknown.
International trade is not mentioned in published
literature and is not specically mentioned as a
Illegal trade in wildlife in Indonesia is rampant, and includes many lile-known species, such as the Sulawesi Bear Cuscus
Ailurops ursinus. Too oen the trade in less charismac species goes unnoced, with many being pushed towards exncon.
Sadly, few, if any, eecve intervenons are put in place to prevent further declines. The demand for the Sulawesi Bear Cuscus
appears to be small but growing both naonally and internaonally and increasingly, carried out on online plaorms, making
enforcement of exisng policies dicult. Legal protecon for Sulawesi Bear Cuscus in Indonesia is inadequate, obstrucng
eecve enforcement eorts. Furthermore, the species is not listed in the Appendices of the Convenon on Internaonal
Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), making internaonal control impossible. Here we examine the trade in Indonesia’s bear
cuscus species and make recommendaons for more eecve prevenon of illegal trade at naonal and internaonal levels.
Perdagangan ilegal satwa liar di Indonesia merajalela dan melibatkan banyak spesies-spesies yang kurang dikenal, seper
Kuskus Beruang Sulawesi, Ailurops ursinus. Seringkali, perdagangan spesies-spesies yang kurang karismak terjadi tanpa
disadari sehingga banyak yang akhirnya terdorong menuju kepunahan. Sangat disayangkan bahwa usaha campur tangan
yang efekf untuk mencegah penurunan jumlah yang terus terjadi ini bisa dibilang sangat sedikit, bahkan mungkin dak
ada. Permintaan untuk Kuskus Beruang Sulawesi nampaknya masih kecil, namun mulai meningkat baik pada skala nasional
maupun internasional. Selain itu, perdagangannya semakin banyak dilakukan secara daring, sehingga membuat upaya
penegakan hukum yang berlaku saat ini menjadi sulit. Perlindungan hukum bagi Kuskus Beruang Sulawesi di Indonesia belum
cukup. Hal ini menghalangi upaya pelaksanaan hukum yang efekf. Belum lagi, spesies ini dak ada di dalam daar apendiks
Konvensi Perdagangan Internasional Spesies Terancam (CITES), sehingga pengawasan serta pengendalian internasional
menjadi dak mungkin dilakukan. Pada tulisan ini, kami menelaah perdagangan spesies Kuskus Beruang di Indonesia dan
memberikan rekomendasi untuk pencegahan perdagangan ilegal yang lebih efekf di ngkat nasional maupun internasional.
Keywords: Bear cuscus, Ailurops ursinus, exploitaon, illegal trade, Indonesia
Submied 6th November, 2018; Accepted January 2019.
31
2018 Journal of Indonesian Natural History Vol 6 No 2
threat in the IUCN Red List assessment of this
species (Salas et al., 2008).
Indonesia is home to at least one more Ailurops
species, the Talaud Bear Cuscus A. melanotis,
known with certainty only from one location,
Salibabu Island, within the Talaud Islands, which
is less than 100 km2. (Flannery and Helgen, 2016).
A bear cuscus has also been reported from Sangihe
(the largest island in the Sangihe Island group),
though the taxonomic identity of this species
remains to be conrmed (Flannery and Helgen,
2016). The Talaud Bear Cuscus is assessed as
being Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List
and is severely threatened by hunting and habitat
loss (Flannery and Helgen, 2016). The Talaud Bear
Cuscus is listed as a protected species in Indonesia
under the Act of the Republic of Indonesia No.5 of
1990 concerning conservation of living resources
and their ecosystem. There is no indication this
species is being commercially bred for export.
While the Sulawesi Bear Cuscus was not
specically listed as a protected species under
Indonesian legislation, the entire Phalangerid
family was provided with blanket protection under
Government Regulation No. 7/1999 concerning
the preservation of ora and fauna. There is also
a specic mention of this species being totally
protected on an Indonesian government website
that lists a complete version of the protected
mammals of Indonesia: http://dlh.grobogan.go.id/
info-lh/berita/54-daftar-satwa-langka-mamalia-
indonesia-yang-dilindungi. The inclusion of the
Sulawesi Bear Cuscus on the protected species
list may have aorded it some level of safeguard
from capture and trade; however, in August 2018,
the Government of Indonesia launched a revised
list of protected species (Ministerial Regulation
No.92/2018), and the Sulawesi Bear Cuscus is now
absent from this list, as is the blanket protection for
the genus.
The hunting and trade in animals that are not
protected are regulated under Regulation of
the Minister of Forestry No. 447/Kpts-II/2003
concerning administration directive of harvest or
capture and distribution of wild specimens. This
regulation states that an annual quota is set for all
animals that can be captured in the wild. Catching
animals for which no quota has been set, in excess
of quota that have been set, or outside provinces
for which quotas have been set, is deemed illegal,
even when the species concerned is not legally
protected. There is no quota for the Sulawesi Bear
Cuscus, however, while this theoretically provides
protection from commercial exploitation, no
punishments for transgressions are stated under
this law and, therefore, this regulation is dicult
to enforce.
Capture of breeding stock is permitted on a
case-by-case basis by the Indonesian Institute of
Sciences, to allow registered breeders to export
live ospring as pets, but it is not known how many
animals have been removed from the wild for this
purpose.
As the Sulawesi Bear Cuscus and the other
Ailurops species are not listed in the Appendices
of the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES), there is no current mechanism in place to
monitor, regulate or control the international trade
in this species. There is also no system to record
reports of international trade or incidents of illegal
trade, seizures or enforcement actions relating to
this species.
In addition to Indonesia having a thriving
domestic illegal wildlife trade (Shepherd, 2010;
Nijman et al., 2012: Eaton et al., 2015), wildlife
is also frequently smuggled from Indonesia to
neighbouring countries, such as the Philippines,
where it is sold to meet local demand, or smuggled
on to further international destinations (Shepherd,
2005; Shepherd and Sy, 2017). In the Philippines,
the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection
Act of 2001 accords protection to native and
non-native wildlife. Individuals or organisations
are required to obtain relevant permits from the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR) to collect, import/export, possess, trade,
and transport wildlife. Wildlife without permits
can be seized in favour of the State.
Recently, there have been anecdotal reports of
Exploitaon and protecon of bear cuscus
32 © University of Andalas / Copenhagen Zoo
Sulawesi Bear Cuscus being harvested live from
the wild for the international pet trade, yet little
is known of this trade, the legality of it or the
potential impact on wild populations. As such,
this paper intends to shed light on the trade in this
species, to call for transparency in the trade of this
species and open the door for further potential
research, national and international regulation and
conservation initiatives.
Methods
In July 2018, a rapid online trade survey was carried
out to identify and compile incidences of trade
in Sulawesi Bear Cuscus from 2012-2018. The
survey was made across 45 dierent Indonesian
wildlife trade Facebook groups. Searches were
conducted using the key words “kuskus beruang”
(bear cuscus) in the Facebook search bar with
the tab “Your Groups” selected under the lter
options. The number of members in groups ranged
from 324 – 148,816. When an advertisement was
identied to be selling a Sulawesi Bear Cuscus,
information was collected on the location, price,
and the number and size of individuals advertised.
No personal data about the sellers were collected
and no interaction with sellers took place.
A letter requesting information regarding legal
trade, captive breeding and export of Sulawesi
Bear Cuscus was sent 30 August 2018 to the Head
of Section of Wildlife Trac Control, the Head
of Section of Captive Breeding and the Deputy
Director of Species Utilization in the Indonesian
Government. Further information on the trade
in this species in Indonesia was obtained from
wildlife trade researchers, as well as published and
unpublished literature.
In the Philippines, a survey was conducted in 30
Facebook groups engaged in wildlife trade in the
Philippines in July 2018 to monitor the availability
of this species in the online platform. Facebook is
known to be a major venue of illegal wildlife trade
in the Philippines (Sy, 2018).
Further information on the trade in this species was
obtained in the Philippines by reviewing data from
seizure records of the Biodiversity Management
Bureau-DENR (BMB-DENR), DENR region 12,
newspaper articles, and from wildlife researchers.
As one of the few countries that record imports of
non-CITES species, import and export data for the
United States of America (USA) was also checked,
and was obtained from the US Fish and Wildlife
Service (USFWS) Law Enforcement Management
Information System (LEMIS) covering the period
2000-2014. LEMIS species the content of each
shipment with either a species code, a genus code
or a more general code (e.g. NONR= Non-CITES
reptile), with the latter more common in larger
shipments (Schlaepfer et al., 2005). Here, we
searched for data specically labelled as Aliurops
ursinus.
Observations
Illegal wildlife trade within online trade and
hobbyist groups is rampant. A survey of Facebook
groups between 2012 and 2018 yielded a total of 31
unique advertisements (Figure 1) selling Sulawesi
Bear Cuscus, with a total of 44 individuals oered
for sale. Number of advertisements found annually
from 2012 to 2017 remained stable until a sharp
rise in the number of advertisements was observed
in 2018. Of these, 21 advertisements contained just
one animal and 10 included more than one individual
(ranging from 2 – 5). Fifteen dierent Facebook
groups had advertisements selling Sulawesi bear
cuscus, of which one was a secret group, 10 were
closed groups and 4 were public groups. Within
these groups, 25 dierent traders were identied to
be selling Sulawesi Bear Cuscus, and of these, six
traders posted more than one advertisement. The
prices ranged from IDR 1,200,000 (USD 70.00)
to 3,500,000 (USD 230) for one Bear Cuscus
individual (n = 6). Traders stated that the preferred
method of payment was via REKBER (rekening
bersama – transfer via a third-party joint account)
(n = 18) followed by cash on delivery (n = 2). The
majority of traders were located in East Java (13),
followed by Jakarta (4), Sulawesi (2), West Java
(1) and Central Java (1).
In November 2017, a man was arrested in South
Sulawesi for attempting to sell three Sulawesi Bear
33
2018 Journal of Indonesian Natural History Vol 6 No 2
Cuscus online, along with a variety of other species
of birds and mammals from Sulawesi (http://
news.metrotvnews.com/read/2017/12/20/804811/
polda-sulsel-tangkap-residivis-pedagang-satwa-
dilindungi).
There is anecdotal information that at least
one wildlife breeder in Jakarta has been granted
permission to obtain wild-caught parent stock
to attempt to breed Sulawesi Bear Cuscus for
commercial sale. However, details about this
were not publicly available and there have been
no responses to inquiries sent to the relevant
government authorities in Indonesia. Sulawesi Bear
Cuscus are not listed in the Indonesian Government’s
annual harvest and quota list for 2018, but special
permission may have been granted.
Illegal trade in wildlife smuggled out of Indonesia
to the Philippines is common. On 7 August 2012, 17
Sulawesi Bear Cuscuses were seized in Barangay
Calumpang, General Santos City, South Cotabato
Province, Mindanao Island, the Philippines. Five
suspects, including one Indonesian and four
Filipino nationals, were arrested by the Maritime
Group of the Philippine National Police and
DENR. The Sulawesi Bear Cuscuses were most
likely destined to privately-owned zoological parks
that are in constant search for novel and unusual
animals to exhibit. South Cotabato Province has
been implicated as a key entry point utilised by
trackers for smuggled Indonesian wildlife.
The authors did not observe Sulawesi Bear Cuscus
for sale online in the Philippines, but this may be
due to tracker’s preference to deal directly with
private collectors.
LEMIS
The USA LEMIS database reports the import of
151 Sulawesi Bear Cuscus and the export of two
specimens. The majority of the transactions are
described as Garment (GAR) and Hair (HAI) or
other products and are exported by, or originate
from, New Zealand. The attached generic name
“Possum” suggests that these transactions are
mistakenly documented as Aliurops ursinus but are
actually Common Brushtail Possums Trichosurus
vulpecula. The latter is a widespread agricultural
invasive species in New Zealand, introduced for
the fur industry.
Fourteen specimens are documented to originate
from Indonesia, of which 10 are also documented as
Possum and declared as Garment. The remaining
four animals, of which two are documented
as A.u.togianus, are documented as Specimen
(Scientic or Museum). These four specimens were
imported from Australia with Indonesia listed as its
origin. Two out of four were imported for scientic
purposes, the remaining two were exported with an
unknown purpose code (N). The data available in
the LEMIS database suggest that the majority of
documented trade consists of misidentied animals
and do not consists of Sulawesi Bear Cuscus. The
remaining transactions, while they do originate
from Indonesia, likely consists of scientic
specimens and not live animals. There does not
appear to have been any documented import of live
Sulawesi Bear Cuscus in the USA.
Discussion and recommendations
Considering the demand for wildlife as pets and
given the ease in nding this species for sale on
online platforms, illegal trade of Sulawesi Bear
Cuscus is likely common in Indonesia, especially
in the main cities on Java. Surveys carried out in
Facebook wildlife trade groups found a total of 31
unique advertisements that rose from one to 17 per
year in the period from 2012 to 2018. A total of
44 individual Sulawesi Bear Cusus were observed
for sale in these sites, some of which were open or
public groups. The spike in trade observed in 2018
could be due to an increase of animals in trade or
highlight a general shift from physical market to
online trade (Chng and Bouhuys, 2015; Bergin et
al., 2017). Nevertheless, while there has been some
enforcement action targeting online traders, it has
clearly not been enough to deter the trade, in view
that the online trade seems to be increasing.
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
1 2 3 2 3 3 17
Table 1. Numbers of adverts selling Sulawesi Bear Cuscus per
year (2012-2018).
Exploitaon and protecon of bear cuscus
34 © University of Andalas / Copenhagen Zoo
Online trade is more dicult to police than physical
markets as traders can set up anonymous accounts
or use fake names when making a transaction
(Krishnasamy and Stoner, 2016; Morgan and
Chng, 2017). This has been complicated further
with an increase in use of the REKBER transfer
system, which was the preferred method of payment
observed in this survey. In the REKBER system, a
third-party bank account is used so that no recordable
transaction takes place between the trader and the
buyer, making it dicult for police to link the two
criminals or prove any illegal activity took place.
The online trade in Sulawesi Bear Cuscus
appeared to be limited to the Islands of Sulawesi
and Java, with the province of East Java having the
highest incidences of trade. In East Java, the capital
city Surabaya is a known destination and transit
point for smuggled wildlife from Kalimantan, the
Moluccas, Papua and Sulawesi (Chng and Eaton,
2016). The larger numbers of traders recorded in
East Java therefore may indicate that this existing
trade route is also being used to smuggle Bear
Cuscus from Sulawesi into Java.
Enforcement eorts to prevent illegal hunting
and trade in bear cuscus species in Indonesia is
weak (Flannery and Helgen, 2016) and it is highly
likely that enforcement ocers globally do not
have the skills to identify the species, especially
as international trade appears to be rather sporadic,
and as the species is not listed in the appendices
of CITES. We encourage the Government of
Indonesia, as the only range country, to place
the genus Ailurops in Appendix III of CITES, or
to propose it be listed in Appendix II, to gain the
international community’s assistance in preventing
illegal international trade of Sulawesi Bear Cuscus.
CITES member countries would be obligated to
seize specimens of this species in trade without
the required permits. Listing the species in CITES
would also provide a mechanism for monitoring
and recording of trade.
As this species has been seized in the Philippines,
it is clear that some illegal international trade
in Sulawesi Bear Cuscus persists as well. The
Philippine wildlife authorities will continue to
seize wildlife without proper permits as and when
detected; however, the scale of the undetected
trade is not known, nor is the demand in
countries beyond the Philippines for this species.
Furthermore, illegal trade to other countries with
high demand for wildlife from Indonesia has yet to
be investigated, although no such commercial trade
to the USA appeared in a search of LEMIS data.
We encourage individuals and/or organisations
monitoring trade in wildlife to publicise seizures
or other information pertaining to the trade in
Ailurops species to further assist in understanding
the impact of trade on these species and to assist
in the planning and implementation of appropriate
conservation interventions.
The recent revision of the list of species protected
under the Government Regulation No.7, 1999,
Concerning the preservation of ora and fauna
omits the Sulawesi Bear Cuscus, leaving this
species vulnerable to exploitation. We encourage
the Government of Indonesia to list the Sulawesi
Bear Cuscus as a protected species under the
Government Regulation No.7, 1999, Concerning
the preservation of ora and fauna, especially
since the zero-quota status of the species is in itself
dicult to enforce.
Anecdotal information suggests that permission
has recently been given to at least one commercial
breeder of wildlife in Indonesia to harvest specimens
from the wild for use as breeding stock to supply
ospring for the pet trade. Indonesia requires that
species bred in captivity for commercial sale are
second generation (F2) production, and it is highly
unlikely that any second-generation stock exist,
given permission to breed this species has apparently
only been granted recently. The Government of
Indonesia is encouraged to make this information
publicly available, to assist authorities in other
countries, as well as conservation organisations,
better determine the legality of specimens in trade.
Finally, we ask that the IUCN Red List authorities
for the Sulawesi Bear Cuscus recognise commercial
trade at national and international levels as a
potential risk to the survival of the species in the
IUCN Red List assessment, and thus encourage
researchers, enforcement agencies and policy
makers to include the threat of trade in future
conservation and regulatory interventions.
35
2018 Journal of Indonesian Natural History Vol 6 No 2
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Mundita Lim and Ali
Hadjinasser for providing relevant information with
regards to the Philippines. In Indonesia, we thank
Karlina Indraswari for providing valuable information.
An anonymous donor is thanked for supporting
Monitor’s work on this publication. The authors are
grateful to Lalita Gomez for very helpful comments on
an earlier draft of this note. Biofagri Rachmayuningtyas
is thanked for assistance with translation.
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Exploitaon and protecon of bear cuscus
