The peaks of Merbabu and Ungaran gaze at each other silently

as I wait patiently for the sound of the dusk

long imprinted memory since childhood years of

a sad crow mourning the sudden loss

of an immortal in this long forgotten wilderness.

One year after visiting my parents in my homeland Indonesia, I realized, not a single sighting of crows while being there. I called my mum : “How come there was no crow during my last visit, mum?”.

“Oh, the crows. It’s a sad story, really”, she sighed.

“Please tell me more”.

Where have all the crows gone?

not a single sight of this mystical creature

black with a glisten of azure blue

with sharp yet foreboding stare

penetrating my soul with a hidden message

from the afterlife of long buried ancestors.

“Here is the story. For two decades, Indonesia was gripped by lottery-madness. Instead of being productive, the lower working class embarked on gambling. The Indonesian government endorsed a weekly, eight-digit national lottery called Nalo. However, illegal book-makers conducted their own last two-digit Nalo gambling rings. Charts depicting pictures of animals endemic to the tropics; crocodiles, tapirs, flying-foxes, eagles, snakes, tigers etc. were issued to improve betting chances. Each represented a number. Since majority of the poor are illiterate, using animals was helpful to pick prospective winning numbers”.

My distress is a thousand fold

upon learning of the crows’ plight

sadly too far gone for mortal mercy

decade of bushfires smoked the crows out of their senses

clairvoyance madness decimated their dwindling number.

The tropical climate creates leafy vegetation; much of which are common weeds. While home owners and farmers resort to pruning their yards, local rangers opt to do back-burning to control forest growth. Twice in 1990s this practice went completely out of control; resulting in raging bushfires. The prevailing wind didn’t help matters; for months, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia were engulfed with smoke dispersing further north. The first casualty was the birdlife, including the crows. To make matters worse, because the locals believe the common black crows have the mystical ability to predict the future; it also added to their demise.

All the crows have gone, not entirely to its maker

but to a doomed existence in a single gilded cage

deprived of a mate for fledglings and future promise

are we humans their worst enemy? I fear so

just incase your heart desires to know of how and

where all the crows have gone.

Indonesia’s fascination with birdlife is phenomenal. The rich fuels native Australian birds’ smuggling ring. Meanwhile, the poor resorts to trapping local birds; some to satisfy global markets, some for affordable protein rich diet supplement. Sadly the crows, due to their magical quality, are doomed to live in confined, single-occupant, bamboo-cages; with little chance of mating and reproductions.

Even banning all forms of gambling didn’t stop the rapid decline of their birdlife. Hunters kill all types of birds for consumption, some merely to hone their skill.

Ironically, the 2007 Summit was held in Bali Island, just east of Java Island where the reckless decimation of birdlife still happens. It’s now up to us to do something.

I hereby invite global conservationists to collectively educate the world to preserve all wildlife great and small, before it’s gone forever.

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