Badung Regent Criticized For Owning An Endangered Animal

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   Badung Regent, I Nyoman Giri Prasta has been criticized for owning an endangered species at his residence.

Prasta was condemned by several people on his social media, after recently uploading a video of him playing with a baby gibbon/owa siamang monkey at his residence on Tuesday (14/9). In the video, Prasata was seen attempting to teach the baby gibbon to walk next to her cage, allegedly not knowing that the species is one of the protected animals in Indonesia. Shortly after, many people blasted his comment section with criticism for owning the gibbon as a pet.

“Wild animals are not pets’ ‘ said one of the people on Prasta’s instagram account. Prasta decided to delete his video on Wednesday (15/9) because it garnered a lot of backlash, causing hundreds of people to condemn him online. Prasta also decided to hand over the gibbon that he named Mimi to the Bali Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA), an institution that is obliged to protect the species.

 Once Prasta handed over his pet to BKSDA, he posted his apology on his social media to calm people down as he realized that many people felt uncomfortable with that video. “For those who felt angry or anything else, I’m deeply sorry for what I have done.” Giri Prasta concluded.