Indonesia's ambassador wants feral banteng cattle protected in NT
Wild cattle shipped from Indonesia to the Northern Territory almost two centuries ago should be protected and one day taken home, according to the country's Australian ambassador.
About 10,000 feral banteng live on the Cobourg Peninsula, about 200 kilometres north-east of Darwin, where they were introduced by a failed colonial settlement in the 1840s and now run wild.
Despite their feral status in Australia, banteng are critically endangered, and only about 1,000 remain in the wild in Indonesia.
Indonesia's ambassador to Australia Siswo Pramono said he was hopeful international collaboration could help the species recover.
"It is really time for us to talk more on the research cooperation between our national parks and your national parks — it's important," Dr Pramono said.
A group of 20 banteng were shipped from Bali to the Northern Territory in 1849. (ABC Catalyst)
A 2006 study of more than 50 animals found banteng living in Garig Gunak Barlu National Park on Cobourg Peninsula carried pure-strain genetics not typically seen in South-East Asia.
Dr Pramono suggested some Northern Territory banteng could be returned home to Indonesia, provided they were identified as being "genetically correct" for Indonesia's national parks.
"Repatriating or reintroduction is one possibility, but we need to be very careful," Dr Pramono said.
"Australia is amazing, it's just like Noah's ark from the Bible.
"You collect many animals, and when the animal from the original place is getting extinct, you still have it here."
Siswo Pamono says there are small populations of banteng living in Indonesian national parks and sanctuaries. (Flickr: Nugroho Adi, Banteng @ Ujung Kulon National Park, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Dr Pramono also suggested more banteng could be introduced to the NT in an effort to improve the "genetic variety" of the Australian herd.
"For the sake of [the] heritage of mankind, for this kind of animal, we can do something."
Dr Pramono said no formal talks had been held, but the conversation should start between the NT government and Indonesian national parks, before the involvement of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Siswo Pramono toured export yards near Darwin in 2025. (ABC Rural: Matt Brann)
Feral conservation
Centre for Compassionate Conservation director Daniel Ramp said one-humped, or dromedary, camels also flourished in the Australian bush, despite being domesticated long ago overseas.
Like banteng, camels were first introduced to Australia in the 1840s. (Supplied: Marieke Hoelscher)
He said the debate on how to manage these species was one-sided, and Australia could play a role in conserving them if they were endangered overseas.
"[Australia] is the only place in the world where camels get to roam free, that's not a small thing," he said.
"If there are impacts to [native] threatened species from some of these large herbivores then we should be doing all we can to mitigate those. But what happens when one of these [feral] species are actually threatened in their native regions?
"At what point do we make this trade-off between balancing our conservation needs in Australia with those globally?"
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