Mélogale de Java

Small numbers of Javan Ferret Badgers are traded in the 'bird' markets (which also deal extensively in mammals) of Jakarta; they evidently come from the wild and, while also advertised for sale on the internet, seem still basically to be a novelty pet (Riffel 1991, Kim 2012, Shepherd 2012). E.J. Rode-Margono (pers. comm. 2014), D. Spaan and colleagues undertook 62 market surveys between February 2012 and July 2014, in 15 markets (13 in West Java including Jakarta, two in Bali); they recorded ferret badgers four times at Jatinegara (Jakarta): June 2012, four individuals; January 2014 one; May 2014, four individuals (immatures); June 2014, two dead individuals and one alive. In 2014 they also saw one infant in Garut (West Java). These numbers are very low compared with numbers of civets (Nijman et al. 2014). The species seems in 2014 to be consistently available in markets, whereas five years previously it was unusual to see in trade (C.R. Shephard pers. comm. 2014). The risk of trade rising is increased by the recent formation of 'civet-lovers' clubs (known locally as ‘cinta musang'), which also collect other small carnivores (E. Wilianto pers. comm. 2014). Availability of Javan Ferret Badger on on-line animal trading websites in Indonesia has also increased in recent years: this is likely to increase demand for the species because on-line sites reach a broader consumer audience and allow for ease of purchase (C.R. Shepherd pers. comm. 2015).

Much of the forest habitat of Java has been converted to other uses, particularly agriculture, but this species does not depend upon extensive old-growth forest; it is unclear if it requires any sort of native forest. Domestic dogs are common on Java and represent a potential threat to Javan Ferret Badger, because a high proportion of its range is likely to be within a few kilometers of human settlement. Hunters' dogs are not rare in habitat such as that at Cipaganti (although stray dogs stay in the village); pig hunters go into the field almost every day, with dogs, they train their dogs by letting them hunt squirrels in bushy regrowth of fallows, and they leave dogs at little huts in the fields to chase away pigs by barking at night (E.J. Rode-Margono pers. comm. 2014). These might pose some threat but it is presumably not critical given that ferret badgers continue to use such areas. Hunting levels for small carnivores are much lower on Java than in northern South-east Asia (see Rode-Margono et al. 2014) and while some are doubtless killed (particularly given a recent rise in amateur leisure-seekers firing air-guns at anything they come across (E. Wilianto pers. comm. 2014), it seems unlikely that this would be sufficient to drive declines. Bird trapping is widespread and intensive on Java; trappers opportunistically take any small wildlife that they come across, for sale in the urban pet trade (C.R. Shepherd pers. comm. 2015); indeed the ground traps for birds widely used sometimes catch ferret badgers (E. Wilianto pers. comm. 2014). There is a yet no evidence of targeted harvest of the species.

Javan Ferret Badger's use of habitats from the interior of old-growth forest to agricultural landscapes, in an environment of low levels of hunting in the styles which might catch the species, suggest that there are no significant conservation issues for the species at present. However, more information would allow a more confident assessment. The highest priority is probably to monitor market trade levels; fashions for pets can change very quickly (Nekaris et al. 2013) and there is no information from which to speculate on how populations of this species would respond to focussed trade demand. The species occurs in multiple protected areas, potentially many more than those in which it has yet been documented. Javan Ferret Badger is not listed as a protected species in Indonesia. However, according to Indonesian law, species that are not protected may only be traded domestically or internationally following a harvest and export quota system, and because there is no allotted quota for this species, its trade is illegal (Shepherd 2012). Enforcement efforts to counter trade in non-protected species outside the national quota regulations are, however, rarely enforced. Furthermore, enforcement of regulations in the bird markets in Jakarta is also lacking and illegal trade continues on a daily and open basis (Nijman et al. 2014). It is recommended that enforcement efforts are increased in relation to the ongoing illegal trade of this and other species in the bird markets