On Saturday, May 23, 2009, the Wildlife Profession Interest Group of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Bogor Agricultural University (Himpro Satli FKH-IPB) held a national seminar on “The Effect of Environmental Damage on Wild Bird Migration Pattern and Animal Disease Spread by Wild Birds in Indonesia” with CIVAS as one of its sponsors.

The seminar presented 3 speakers; Prof. Dr. Ir. Ani Mardiastuti, MSc (Faculty of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University), Dewi Elfidasari, SSi, MSi (Faculty of Biotechnology, Al Azhar Indonesia University), and Joost Philippa, DVM, PhD (Wildlife Conservation Society). Moderator for the seminar was Drh. Albertus Teguh Muljono from CIVAS.

The first speaker, Prof. Dr. Ir. Ani Mardiastuti gave a presentation titled “Migration Patterns in Indonesia and Its Connection to Disease Spread”. She explained migration routes of wild birds in Indonesia and the effect of land function change to increased contact between human and wild birds.

The second speaker, Dewi Elfidasari, SSi, MSi, gave a presentation titled “Disease Spread by Wild Birds in Indonesia”. She gave an overview about Avian Influenza (AI) in Indonesia and the suspected role of waterfowl in AI transmission from avian to human. She also talked about a study conducted together with Prof. Dr. Drh. Retno D. Soedjoedono, MS and Dr. Drh. Sri Murtini, MSi from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Bogor Agricultural University and Drs. Yus Rusila Noor from Wetlands International on wild water birds in Pulau Dua conservation area in Serang, Banten Province. The study found evidences of H5N1 infection in wild water birds in the area.

The third speaker, Joost Philippa, DVM, PhD, presented “Migratory Birds & (Zoonotic) Diseases”. In his presentation he talked about several methods of marking and tracking wild birds and several diseases related to wild birds such as West Nile Virus, Lyme’s disease, Salmonella, Newcastle disease, and influenza A viruses.

The seminar was attended by almost 200 participants. Most participants were students from Faculties of Veterinary Medicine from Bogor Agricultural University in West Java, Brawijaya University in East Java, Gajah Mada University in Central Java, Airlangga University in East Java, Udayana University in Bali, Syah Kuala University in Aceh, and Nusa Tenggara Barat University in Nusa Tenggara Barat. Also attending the seminar were students from the Faculty of Forestry of Bogor Agricultural Unversity, students from the Bandung Technology Institute, CIVAS, and others. (rie)