KASI Foundation
KASI Foundation (Konservasi Alam Satwa Indonesia) is an Indonesian non-profit organization founded and supported by Indonesia's leading zoo and conservation institution, Taman Safari Indonesia. The flagship project of this foundation, also supported by the Ostrava Zoo, is the Prigen Conservation Breeding Ark (PCBA). This is a facility for breeding highly endangered Indonesian animal species.
The station was established and is managed by Taman Safari Indonesia Corporation in collaboration with ZGAP in East Java, Indonesia on a 4-ha site, surrounded by secondary rainforest and not accessible to the general public. It currently consists of six complexes with 189 aviaries for endangered Indonesian songbirds, as well as a complex for four pairs of Javan small-toothed palm civets (Arctogalidia trivirgata trilineata) and a large, densely planted complex for up to five breeding groups of Javan warty pigs (Sus verrucosus).
Threats to songbirds
Songbirds in Southeast Asia are a symbol of tradition when a bird is supposed to bring good luck to its owner by singing in a cage in front of the house. Singing competitions of these birds are also still popular. However, due to high demand and black market sales, wild songbird populations are being heavily plundered, and many species in the area have already found themselves on the brink of extinction.
KASI Foundation activities
The PCBA centre is primarily intended for the rehabilitation of birds seized from bird markets in Indonesia, their breeding, reproduction, and release back into the wild. Currently, almost two dozen endangered species of birds are bred at the station.
This centre was one of the 6 projects for the implementation of which funds were collected within the pan-European campaign EAZA Silent Forest (www.silentforest.eu) highlighting the issue of hunting and breeding of songbirds in SE Asia.
You can learn more at www.prigenark-pcba.jimdo.com.
How Ostrava Zoo helps
The Ostrava Zoo, together with all its visitors, supports the protection of Indonesian songbirds by the KASI Foundation through the "3 CZK for Wildlife" program. In addition, the Ostrava Zoo contributed financially to the construction of the rescue breeding centre Prigen Conservation Breeding Ark as part of the EAZA Silent Forest campaign.
