If we take a walk on the east side of the Faculty of Agriculture or around the UGM “Valley”, dozens of deer will be seen in the cage eating grass, while others are seen drinking and sheltering. Despite the noise of the vehicles passing nearby, the deer remained cheerfully active, as if not disturbed.
Yes, that is UGM deer park. Inside the park, currently there are at least 22 deer. Eleven of them are Javanese deer species (Cervus timorensis) and the other eleven are spotted deer species (Axis axis). Usually, only on Saturday or Sunday people come to see them while taking a leisurely walk or relaxing with family.
According to the manager who is also in charge of the deer park, drh. Slamet Raharjo, M.P. from the Veterinary Medicine Faculty, the deer continued to grow in number since the beginning. Some already died or sick, but some others have given birth. "Currently, there are a total of 22 deer, 11 of Java species and the other 11 of spotted deer species. Their cage is separated because they are different species, with the spotted deer came originally from India," Slamet explained on Wednesday (7/7).
Slamet said that because their species is different, the two species of deer are separated and not allowed to be crossbred. He also added that for the Java deer, one pair of them was donated by the Deputy Governor of Papua, drh. Constan Karma, in 2004. Meanwhile, some of the spotted deer came from Bogor presidential palace and Gembira Loka Zoo. "Of what has been nurtured nowadays, some deer were given by the Deputy Governor of Papua for the Javanese deer, while some spotted deer came from of Bogor presidential Palace and Gembiraloka Zoo," he explained.
Slamet conveyed, for the daily maintenance, UGM deer park is managed by one person only. He is responsible for feeding, providing drinking water, cleaning cages, and controlling if there is illness or childbirth. To feed the deer is not difficult. The food is almost the same with the food of goats, i.e. grass, leaves, cassava, browse,or carrots. In addition to the food, every month the deer are also given vitamins or worm medicine if they are ill. "It is not difficult because the foods are also almost the same with the goat’s food" said Slamet.
When mentioned about the fund to feed the dozens of deer, Slamet said that it came from the University’s budget. Each week, it costs 950 thousand rupiah to maintain the deer. "We’re tight on the budget, but we often get around by, for example, collecting grass from the faculty or we gather it by ourselves rather than buy it," he added.
On that occasion, Slamet said the the UGM deer park has the prospective if well managed. Moreover, so far not a few families who took the time to see and visit it . It would be better if collaborated work can be done between the deer park and some other existing assets, such as the butterfly park and the pond.
However, to make it happen it would require the support of many groups, including some faculty, such as Biology, Agriculture, Forestry, Veterinary Medicine, also the Tourism Study Center. “Indeed, it’s too bad if UGM is not serious in jointly developing it. It’s a great asset and potential enough to be used as educational tour destination. Over the years, it is also occasionally used as field research," said Slamet.
Similar views related with the development of the deer park are also conveyed by the observer of the Tourism Study Center UGM, Prof. Dr. Ir. Chafid Fandeli, M.S. He said the park can be used as scientific based tourism or commonly known as an educational tour. "In fact, in the future it could also be commercialized. Similarly with the street vendors set up. This can be exploited for good purpose if it has developed well," he said.
According to Chafid, many units need to cooperate to develop it into one of the educational tour destinations. "The University could form a special unit to manage it, but not imitating the Gembiraloka Zoo. It should be different because UGM is also a source of science and knowledge," Chafid added.
It is indeed a shame if the deer park is only become a marginalized assets. Awareness needs to be raised to maintain and develop it as one potential educational tour destination. If you’ve never been to the UGM deer park, give it a try to “greet” the deer!