Some Indonesians are making a living catching and drying house lizards for China’s traditional medicine industry. While the mosquito-munching reptiles are believed to be abundant, NGOs say more data is neededIndonesian villager Dody Hermawan has been hunting lizards for the past 12 years. CIREBON, West Java: Armed with headlamps, pails and thin wooden sticks, Mr Dody Hermawan and his colleagues embark on a mission most nights around the villages of West and Central Java.
As more people noticed him going about his work and saw that lizards were in demand, “slowly they started to join”, said Mr Dody.HARVEST QUOTAS SET They can be caught as pets or for consumption, said Dr Satyawan Pudyatmoko, director general of natural resources and ecosystem conservation at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
In the past, actual exports have been found to exceed quotas for certain species such as the Tokay gecko. China is a major importer of Tokay geckos, which are thought to be effective in suppressing asthma, relieving coughing and treating diabetes and other ailments.OVERHUNTING UNLIKELY, BUT WILDLIFE GROUPS SAY MORE DATA NEEDED
Professor Mirza believes house lizards are unlikely to be overhunted because the animals’ physical size has not changed. When a particular animal is overhunted, the remaining population is smaller as fewer mature members are left, she explained.Are people able to catch all of the lizards? I think not, because they catch them manually.
The convoys consist of up to 16 people – when CNA visited last month, a group of eight went to Pemalang in Central Java to hunt. If the 52-year-old works 20 days a month, he is still able to earn about IDR3 million, slightly above the minimum wage of IDR2.5 million in Cirebon.