Baby rescued from pet trade

New Member of the Matang Family.

On Tuesday 6th February Keith, our residet primate expert in Borneo, headed with John Colam, a member of staff with the authorities, to Sibu, about 7 hours drive from Matang Wildlife Centre to collect an orphan orangutan.
The only details we were given were that police had raided the house of a murder suspect and who had fled when they entered, but they found a tiny orangutan in a small box in the house. We were told that he was a male and weighed 2kg so we were expecting a very frail and frightened baby. He had been cared for by a Forestry worker for a week, and had been fed bananas and condensed (sweet) milk straight from the tin…not a very healthy diet!

The journey home was over 7 hours and the baby was very restless and active. ‘He’ turned out to be a 'she' and weighed in at 6kg and we estimate that she was a bit over a year, having a full set of teeth.


The first night she was a bit timid but took to a bottle of baby milk easily and snuggled up to us for comfort. Luckily we were able to get a large crate for her to live in our house which was very lucky. We had been expecting a tiny baby but got a bouncing active toddler!

She slept through the first night, as she still does usually, and the next day we took her to a very kind (human) doctor for a health check. She was well behaved and let him check her heart, lungs and ears. She didn’t even squeak when he took a pin prick blood sample from her foot…she seemed fascinated!

Luckily the results for malaria were negative and she was generally health apart from a very heavy worm burden which gave her a big pot belly. A few days of worm tablets (us too, just in case!) and she was fine. She was also given multi-vitamin supplements. We collected her in nappies and so we continued for a few days, but soon decided it was pointless and that her little bottom wasn’t made for them!

From day 2 we decided that she needs a routine and so she comes in her travel cage to work with us at Matang Wildlife Centre. There she has a second play cage and she is being rehabilitated, learning to climb ropes and trees in which to swing. She is remarkably accomplished!!

She has constant minders and the volunteers also help to ‘baby sit’ her during the day. Each night she comes home and settles very well to her bottle after a last play on her jungle gym (built by Keith in our garden).


We have been told that she was orphaned when her mother was shot entering a palm oil plantation…like so many others. We are giving her the best life that we can until she can be taken for walks into the jungle (with friends we hope) where she may be able to live a happy semi wild or even wild existence. But it is a very long and complicated process, remembering that orang utans stay with their mothers for around 5 years and learn everything from them, like which foods are safe to how to build a nest each night. We are very conscious of informing her admirers – from our local Malaysian neighbours who watch her play in our garden to visitors at Matang Wildlife Centre - that while she is very cute and looks a lot of fun to have around, that she is a wild animal who’s mother was shot dead while she clung on and screamed and who was intended to be smuggled into the pet trade to a life of uncertainty. We explain that we are caring for her and hope to train her to adapt to a life in the trees without relying on people.

She eats well and enjoys a huge selection of fruits and vegetables as well as leaves…she loves picking a banana leaf from our garden for herself (with a bit of help) and will try to make a nest with it too.

She is interested in most things and likes to just be around people, as she would with Mum. And the volunters from the February group fell in love with her! She doesn’t need constant entertainment; rather she will happily play with a bucket of water (supervised of course) or a cardboard box for quite some time. She usually has a couple of naps during the day.

More news soon!!!

Enrichment

Caroline Bellhouse works for Way Out Experiences and is Education and Interpretation Officer for the Borneo Wildlife Volunteer Project. Here is her latest blog for a special weekend at Matang Wildlife Centre at the beginning of February:

Well, a lot has been going on at Matang Wildlife centre as usual! We have had visits from both Afzaal (UK based WOX) and Guillaume (KL based WOX) which has been great, both on a personal level and in terms of moving ahead with the project. A lot was achieved in a very short time!

Our other visitors, James and Lisa (from Adelaide and Auckland Zoos respectively)have toiled relentlessly from dawn to dusk every day and they are having a big impact on the improvement of the animals’ lives as well as helping to work with and teach volunteers about animal husbandry.

Lisa’s first focus has been Behavioural Enrichment (B.E.) of the animals on a daily basis. In a nutshell, this means creating activities for captive animals which encourage natural behaviours and stimulate interest in their surroundings. We have used donated boomer balls (purpose made large, tough, hollow balls with small holes into which small food items are put) and Kongs (similar idea, but smaller and made from tough rubber) which have been very popular with the bears and the monkeys.
The animals spend ages trying to roll or bounce or chew them to get the food out! Hessian sacks are an eternal favourite with the orang utans, either with food or just for wearing, cuddling, cleaning etc, ice blocks with novel foods like dried fish, raisins etc, puzzle feeders as well as really simple things like clumps of grass scattered on the roof so that the animals have to think about how to get them. By ‘novel’ food items we mean foods that are not a part of their everyday diet, a bit like a treat, but of course, a healthy treat! B.E does not have to involve food; Aman the big male orang utan has loved ‘playing’ with a washing up bowl, small bucket, and small ladle, with a bit of water too of course. Orang utan Chiam and her baby Mamu have been keenly scrubbing their walls and floors with a bowl, cloth, and a dash of washing up liquid. They will want to be on the pay roll soon! All this takes time and effort for humans too and the volunteers have been a huge help.

We have much more flexibility and far more options now that we have a new freezer; it is chocablock with tasty ice blocks, fishy rice balls and other healthy things. The freezer was paid for with volunteer contributions…so thanks to all our volunteers!!!

Lisa’s second focus has been the animal diets and she is working with the staff to ensure that all the animals get the optimum food intake within the budget.

Meanwhile, James has been welding, welding and welding! Many of the animals are housed in areas that are not totally safe due to old and damaged bar work and James has made them safer, both for the animals and for the people working near them. When not welding, James usually has a chainsaw in his hand and is, with Keith, overseeing the building of level platforms and dens for the outdoor bears. Once again, the chainsaw has been bought with volunteer contributions, thanks again!

We also have purchased a sparkly new jet washer , a favourite of many past volunteers, so we can get cleaning and painting again!














We have good news and bad news…James has to leave us as Adelaide Zoo are missing him (humph) BUT the good news is that Lisa has managed to extend her stay until May (hurrah!) and James may be able to come back if funds come through to continue the bear improvements. We are indebted to them both! Thank you!
Until next time,
Keith and Caroline

Busy Weekend - it's not all orangutans

Caroline Bellhouse works for Way Out Experiences and is Education and Interpretation Officer for the Borneo Wildlife Volunteer Project. Here is her latest blog for a special weekend at Matang Wildlife Centre at the beginning of February:

The first weekend of February saw a few important changes and progress made at the centre. Way Out Experiences organized a second visit from staff at Zoo Negara in Kuala Lumpur. For those of you have read the past blogs, you will know that they visited in November and helped to relocate 5 Salt Water Crocodiles. Well, two of those crocs, Charlotte and Marc (named after volunteers!) obviously feel very contented in their new home, as Charlotte recently laid about a dozen eggs just near the pond. Rozwan, a reptile expert persuaded Matt and Caroline to accompany him and a colleague to enter the enclosure and, with a sheet of plywood for protection, they checked and counted the eggs. Some of the eggs were cracked and these were later blown and cleaned and will be used for educational purposes. The remaining pristine eggs were kept level and held up to the light … the embryos were just visible, wow! We added leaf litter and sand to a small mound that the crocs had made and carefully buried the eggs. We are expecting them to hatch in early May. At this stage we are not sure what the next step will be, as we do not have the room for any more crocs at Matang and releasing them in the area would seem foolhardy as they are bound to come into conflict with humans. We will keep you updated on any decisions.
Continuing with reptiles, we let Dr Reza (‘Doc’), a vet from Zoo Negara, loose with the tortoises and turtles so that he could count, identify and health check them. He was more than happy to oblige and was particularly pleased to meet our Spiny Shelled Turtle (Heosemys spinosa), as well as our male Big Headed Turtle (Orlitia borneensis) which as you can tell from his Latin name, is definitely a local. These animals have been rescued from the pet trade/food market and are unsuitable for release as no doubt they will be hunted again.
One of the other main missions for the weekend was to tranquilise Jacob, our adult male Sambar deer and relocate him. He has lived happily with Judy (his mother), in with Doris the orang utan for some years, but since Keith Jnr (our hand raised Sambar deer) recently moved in, Jacob has realised that he is grown up now and feels that it is his duty to be macho and show his strength. Sporting rather large antlers at this time of year, this means that he is a liability to staff and volunteers and so the decision was made to move him to a small yard next to the main deer enclosure.
So, under the guidance of Doc and John (animal keeper), Jacob was tranquilised and then lifted (by about 6 men!) onto a trolley with a Hessian sack duvet (stuffed with leaves) to keep him comfortable. His eyes and ears were covered and his breathing and temperature were monitored, and within about ten minutes he was in his new home. He was given a reversal drug and stood up within minutes, though he was groggy for a while. He is still getting used to his new home, complete with special pellet trough built into the fence.
On a social level, we all spent an evening at the local Iban Longhouse, sharing dinner, and dancing and singing…great fun was had by all! (The head man and a couple of others work at Matang Wildlife Centre)
So, at the end of the weekend, not only had a lot been achieved in terms of practical animal work, but also we had managed to link together various people (from management to vet and keeper to volunteer ), from two centres, four zoos, different countries and cultures (Malaysian, Iban, British, Australasian) to share knowledge and skills. Keith and I were totally exhausted but happy at the success of the programme.
Thanks to all those involved…without your efforts the animals’ lives would not have improved that little bit…