January 28, 2026 | 09:59 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Three citron-crested cockatoos (Cacatua sulphurea citrinocristata) perched on a metal bar at the entrance to a military barracks in Wogekel village, Ilwayab District, Merauke Regency, South Papua, on Thursday, December 4, 2025. Their legs were bound by chains. Their feathers were falling out. They looked unkempt, thin, and noticeably leaner than cockatoos in the forests of Ilwayab.
“We bought them from local residents who were selling them here,” said a private from the Territorial Development Infantry Battalion (TP) 801/Nduka Adyatama Yudhha that morning. He did not disclose the price. Over the past year, he said, the birds had served as small comforts during the unit’s deployment to clear land for rice fields.
Not far from the camp gate—formerly a fish processing plant owned by Dwikarya Reksa Abadi—a juvenile southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) chirped inside a cage, sounding like a chick. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the species as vulnerable. The citron-crested cockatoo is in more dire straits, classified as critically endangered.
Chief of the Defense Information Bureau at the Defense Ministry’s Secretariat-General, Brig. Gen. Rico Ricardo Sirait, did not respond to written questions about the four birds. Instead, he outlined the military’s role in supporting the National Strategic Project (PSN) for Food, Energy, and Water Self-Sufficiency in South Papua. “The role of the Defense Ministry and the Indonesian Military (TNI) focuses on securing territory and vital objects,” Rico wrote to Tempo on Thursday, January 22, 2026.
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