SEAToday.com, Penajam Paser Utara - Since the announcement of the location of the new capital city in East Kalimantan, Penajam Paser Utara Regency has become a public conversation. The reason is, part of the new capital city area is in the district.
The general public is looking for information about the tourism potential and natural wealth around it. Therefore, the Penajam Paser Utara Regency government takes advantage of it to introduce typical things from East Kalimantan.
One of them is the East Kalimantan Provincial Government, specifically in Penajam Paser Utara, is a Sambar Deer breeding ground. Sambar deer whose Latin name is Cervus Unicolor has a protected status.
The newly built deer breeding by the local government is behind the Penajam Paser Utara regent's office. In this captivity, people can get to know Sambar deer more closely so that they can help protect them from extinction. So far, the majority of people only know Sambar Deer from its statue.
“I told the East Kalimantan Provincial Government that I want to present the deer in front of the regent's office as a statue, in its original form. So that later the people here know, the children know, oh it turns out that the icon, this is the real thing. The real deer,” said Makmur Marbun, Regent of Penajam Paser Utara.
Sambar deer stand on average more than one meter tall with a body length of about one and a half meters. It is the largest of the five deer species in Indonesia.
In Indonesia, Sambar deer can only be found on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan. Sambar deer in Kalimantan are classified with a different sub-species, the Borneo Sambar Deer. Its uniqueness is in the male deer, where the horns on its head can grow up to 1 meter and will fall off every year and then grow back.
Habitat shrinkage and poaching are the main threats to the Sambar Deer. The meat and antlers have made this deer hunted for a long time. In addition, the demand for deer skins also triggers a lot of poaching of Sambar Deer. For this reason, in the wild this animal is categorized into endangered animals with vulnerable status.
Efforts to conserve these deer are also one of the things that prove the government of the Republic of Indonesia is serious about realizing the capital city of the archipelago as a sustainable forest city.
