East Nusa Tenggara agency frees seized songbirds at Bowosie forest

Labuan Bajo — Conservation authorities in East Nusa Tenggara have confirmed an operation in which more than 1,000 songbirds intercepted en route to Surabaya were released back into the wild at Nggorang Bowosie Protected Forest in West Manggarai, following a joint patrol at Wae Kelambu Multipurpose Port near Labuan Bajo.

According to a report citing the head of the East Nusa Tenggara Natural Resources Conservation Agency (Balai Besar KSDA NTT), Adhi Nurul Hadi, officers seized around 1,000 pleci songbirds, identified as kacamata jawa or Javan white-eye (Zosterops flavus), along with six anis kembang thrushes (Geokichla interpres), from a shipment being transported by ferry from Labuan Bajo to Surabaya in mid-August 2025.

In that case, the birds were discovered in cages loaded inside a truck aboard a passenger vessel at Wae Kelambu Port during a joint patrol monitoring the trade in wild plants and animals, Indonesian media reported.

The birds were later released in Nggorang Bowosie Protected Forest, in Komodo district, West Manggarai, with BBKSDA NTT stating that the release aimed to save the seized birds, bolster their numbers in nature and support conservation education.

May 2026 interception and release

A separate report published in May 2026 described another interception of more than 1,000 birds in East Nusa Tenggara that were also destined for Surabaya and later released at Bowosie Forest in Nggorang, Komodo district, Manggarai Barat.

According to that account, BBKSDA NTT said the birds comprised roughly 1,000 pleci songbirds of the genus Zosterops, 34 samyong or kancilan Flores (Flores jungle flycatcher, Pachycephala nudigula) and 54 decu belang (pied bush chat, Saxicola caprata).

The agency was quoted as saying that these species are not classified as protected wildlife under current Indonesian regulations, and therefore the alleged sender could not be prosecuted under criminal provisions for trading protected species.

BBKSDA NTT stated that all of the intercepted birds in that May 2026 operation were eventually released at Bowosie, part of the Nggorang Bowosie state forest on the hills above Labuan Bajo.

Legal status and enforcement

In public comments on the May 2026 case, Adhi Nurul Hadi said the lack of protected status for pleci and the other species limited the options for criminal enforcement, despite the birds being moved without conservation documents.

In contrast, in the August 2025 interception of 1,000 Javan white-eye pleci at Wae Kelambu, BBKSDA NTT and national media reports stressed that Zosterops flavus is listed as a protected species under a 2018 regulation of the Environment and Forestry Ministry, and that the operation formed part of routine monitoring of illegal wildlife trade.

Officials in the 2025 case reported that the suspected handler of the birds had not yet been found and that the seizure and release at Nggorang Bowosie were carried out without an identified defendant.

Earlier Maumere route case

The May 2026 interception came after BBKSDA NTT and partner agencies reported in July 2025 that they had stopped a shipment of 1,260 Javan white-eye pleci at Lorens Say Port in Maumere, Sikka district, also allegedly bound for Surabaya.

In that Maumere case, officials said 1,120 of the birds were still alive and were later released in Sikka, while 140 were found dead in cages.

Authorities described the Maumere interception as part of routine patrols against illegal wildlife transport and said they were still seeking the person responsible for shipping the birds, who was not located at the time of the seizure.

Taken together, the Maumere and Labuan Bajo interceptions, and the later May 2026 case, indicate that West Manggarai and Sikka have both been used as points along an inter-island route for moving songbirds by sea toward markets in Surabaya.

However, conservation officials have not publicly detailed how frequently such shipments occur or whether they form part of a coordinated trafficking network beyond the individual cases reported to date.

Sources

• Detik Bali
• TIMES Indonesia
• Media Indonesia
• Nusantara Bicara
• Parapuar Invest