City mascot returns to Jakarta

High above the local government office in east Jakarta, a massive bird spreads its frozen wings over the flowerbeds and gazes down, with its hard bronzed eyes, on hurrying uniformed officials.

I have read this news from BBC News by Lucy Williamson. I was lived in Jakarta for many years. Jakarta was not big like now, but still busy. OK, let see what she write about.

This is a Brahminy Kite, Jakarta's city mascot - a reminder of the city's native kite population.

But the only place you will catch a glimpse of one nowadays is on a statue, or perhaps on the side of a city bus.

Jakarta's kite population has been hunted to extinction by illegal traders.

Having a caged bird of prey in your house is something of a status symbol here, and one by one all the city's birds have been captured and sold as pets.

But one organisation is trying to bring them back.

Off the coast of the capital, a small team funded by the UK charity International Animal Rescue has been quietly battling the illegal trade to repopulate the area.

Population re-born

Getting to Kotok Island means sailing a couple of hours out into the Java Sea.

As the boat pulls into the wooden landing stage, tiny fish dart away under the clear water, and a sandy shore, thick with coconut palms, opens up.

Jakarta bus
The birds are still more commonly sighted on the sides of buses

Hidden inside the tangle of tropical shrubs, at the heart of the island, sit a series of large wire cages.

This is where Jakarta's new kite population is being born. Or rather, rehabilitated.

Every one of the birds in these cages has been wrested back from illegal traders or from private houses.

All have had their wings clipped, and some will never fly again. But those with a chance spend months here learning again how to survive in the wild.

That's a part of article that I was read about. That's very interesting for me.