Enviro News Asia, Karawang — Positive news emerges from the Sanggabuana Mountains, Karawang Regency, West Java Province. The Javan Leopard Expedition Team has documented a significant discovery: 19 Javan leopards (Panthera pardus melas), including black panthers and two cubs, recorded through 40 camera traps installed since February 2025. The footage, consisting of 198 instances of wildlife activity, provides strong evidence that the area remains one of the last strongholds for Java’s increasingly rare apex predator.
The expedition was officially launched by Army Chief of Staff (Kasad) General TNI Maruli Simanjuntak, M.Sc., at the Kostrad Combat Training Regiment, Sanggabuana, Karawang Regency. Maruli emphasized that the Indonesian Army’s involvement reflects a strong commitment to nature conservation through the flagship program “United with Nature.”
“As part of the Indonesian nation, we bear a great responsibility to protect biodiversity for the survival of future generations,” said Maruli Simanjuntak in an official statement from the Army’s Public Information Service.
This finding marks the first scientific survey to map the leopard population in Sanggabuana using standard protocols. In addition to leopards, the camera traps also captured other rare species such as the Javan hawk-eagle, further underscoring Sanggabuana’s high conservation value.
According to Bernard T. Wahyu Wiryanta, Survey Team Coordinator from the Sanggabuana Conservation Foundation (SCF), this initial data will serve as a crucial reference for the government in developing policies to protect priority species.
“The individual leopard data, threat mitigation strategies, and prey preference maps we collected form an essential basis to propose changing the status of Sanggabuana Forest into an official conservation area,” Bernard explained on Saturday (September 13, 2025).
Bernard also highlighted the vital role of Kostrad soldiers. They not only supported research and ensured that military training did not disturb wildlife habitats but also actively engaged in anti-poaching patrols and forest encroachment prevention. As a result, protected wildlife poaching in Sanggabuana has recorded a sharp decline.
By August 2025, the first phase of the survey was completed, and the camera traps were relocated to new sites within the same grid for the next phase. The preliminary results bring great optimism: the Javan leopard population in Sanggabuana is significant, reinforcing the urgent need to protect their habitat from ecological threats. (*)
