Offering hope, freedom for RI wildlife<\/p>\n
Maria Lisa K., Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Like all macaques that end up in Jakarta, this particular one had
\nbeen taken as a baby from his mother in the jungles of Lampung,
\nSumatra, only to live out a solitary life neglected and finally
\nabandoned by the owners in South Jakarta when it became too
\ndifficult to control.<\/p>\n
For months, the one-year-old macaque had been chained to a
\nfence in the bend of a busy road, inches away from passing motor
\nvehicles, after the owner decided it was too inconvenient to keep
\nhim in the house.<\/p>\n
Teased daily by passing schoolchildren armed with sticks, the
\nmonkey relied on handouts from the vendor selling noodles next to
\nhim as there was never any food or water in his reach.<\/p>\n
But his life completely changed one day when a complaint from
\na concerned neighbor was forwarded to ProAnimalia International,
\na non-governmental organization (NGO) in Jakarta. Within hours,
\nthree women from the NGO arrived to pick up the mistreated
\nprimate and take him back with them to the Tegal Alur wildlife
\nrescue center near Cengkareng.<\/p>\n
Rehabilitation<\/p>\n
The monkey is now in quarantine for two months, during which
\ntime he will also receive medical care for the bruises and cuts
\ncaused by the harness and chain he wore for most of his life.<\/p>\n
His next move will be to the 14-hectare Sukabumi wildlife
\nrescue center, where new cages have been built on a one-hectare
\nsite provided for the rescued macaques to help them learn to
\nsurvive in a natural habitat and form groups with other primates
\nsurrendered by owners.<\/p>\n
Once the monkeys are in groups, they will be released back
\ninto the wild, which in this case is a 17-hectare island in Pulau
\nSeribu, sometime near the end of June. "This island's perfect for
\nthem: there's a river for them to catch fish, a beach for them to
\nhunt for small crabs and there's no animals on this island so
\nthey can't harm other creatures," said ProAnimalia's director,
\nFemke den Haas, who has also been working at the rescue center
\nfor three years.<\/p>\n
The island was selected for the monkeys' release after a
\nsurvey was carried out in cooperation with the Forestry
\nDepartment, as, den Haas pointed out, they know which islands are
\nprotected and suitable for monkeys and where there are no
\npredators or animals that could be hunted by the macaques. "For
\nexample, we didn't want them to wipe out a population of birds."<\/p>\n
Precautionary measures have also been taken to ensure that the
\nmonkeys will not be recaptured for the pet trade again.<\/p>\n
Den Haas said that the release of the monkeys was being done
\nin cooperation with the Forestry Department and that the island
\nwas in a national park, which requires a permit if anyone wishes
\nto enter.<\/p>\n
Microchips are also planted in all animals before their
\nrelease in order to identify the individual if it dies and to act
\nas a further deterrent against the threat of it being captured
\nagain.<\/p>\n
She said once the monkeys were released on the island, they
\ncould take in the macaques from the other rescue centers in
\nIndonesia as their main sponsor, the Gibbon Foundation in
\nSwitzerland, does not pay for the costs of returning non-
\nprotected animals back to the wild.<\/p>\n
"These macaques (at other rescue centers) are sitting there
\nwaiting for a program for them, and that's why we want to hurry
\ntheir release and be able to take them in, as well as those that
\nare still living in isolation in Jakarta."<\/p>\n
Nonprotected species cared for, too<\/p>\n
Not only does the rescue center take in endangered wildlife,
\nbut it receives nonprotected species, such as the macaques, which
\nalso need funding for their care and to get them back into the
\nwild as well, she noted.<\/p>\n
And it was because of the sad plight of the overlooked
\nmacaques and other nonprotected animals that den Haas, together
\nwith Karmele Llano Sanchez, ProAnimalia's veterinary curator,
\nstarted the NGO in Holland in May 2004. The latest member to
\njoin the team is Wendy Bos, a fundraiser for the group from
\nHolland, who often accompanies the others on field trips and
\ndocuments their activities.<\/p>\n
Concerned individuals are encouraged to call the rescue center
\nand report the location of a primate or animal in distress, and
\naction will be taken as soon as possible, depending on the
\nurgency of the situation and the facilities available.<\/p>\n
"If a monkey is being badly beaten or mistreated and they need
\nus to come straight away, we will, but if it is an animal that
\nhas been there for a long time, and it can wait for another
\nmonth, and if we cannot take it at that moment, then it depends
\nbecause we don't have that much money or staff to run the program
\nat this time."<\/p>\n
Den Haas stressed that all information from calls made on
\nbehalf of animals needing rescue would be entered into a
\ndatabase.<\/p>\n
Eight staff members take care of more than 100 animals
\npresently residing at the Tegal Alur wildlife rescue center.
\nThese include raptors, cockatoos, lovebirds from Papua, slow
\nlorises, siamangs, macaques, gibbons, monitor lizards, snakes,
\nturtles, crocodiles, bears and wildcats. An orangutan has
\nrecently joined the temporary residents, after it was rescued
\nfrom a dark hotel room where it had spent six years of its life
\nin a small cage.<\/p>\n
The Gibbon Foundation, in cooperation with the Forestry
\nDepartment, built the center as a backup for law enforcement
\nprograms as the department needed to take care of the wildlife it
\nconfiscated, she explained.<\/p>\n
There are eight other centers in the country that make up the
\nIndonesian rescue center network. Another refuge is in the
\nplanning stages for Sumatra, where 80 percent of the animals that
\nfind their way to the rescue centers are from.<\/p>\n
But as Jakarta is the center for Indonesia's thriving pet
\ntrade, the Tegal Alur rescue center receives the most animals. In
\n2003 alone, the center took in over 700 animals.<\/p>\n
"If we have enough cages we keep them here for the full two
\nmonths (quarantine), but if orangutans are coming in or other
\nanimals, we need to give them a chance as well, so we send the
\nmacaques to the Sukabumi center."<\/p>\n
Learning survival skills<\/p>\n
She said although some animals could be released quite
\nquickly, most of them, such as monkeys that have been living with
\npeople for a long time and which have not been introduced to
\nother primates, face a long rehabilitation process that could
\ntake up to years.<\/p>\n
"When people ask us how long does it take for a monkey to be
\nreleased into the wild, we answer that it completely depends on
\nthe individual: how long it's been in captivity, and how long it
\nwas with its mother before it was captured."<\/p>\n
The main reason is that younger primates need to learn
\nsurvival skills for living in the forest. "If we receive a baby
\nthat has been confiscated, then it never learned those skills
\nthat he needs to survive from his mother," she said, adding that
\nmacaques and gibbons stay with their mothers for six years.<\/p>\n
The skills they need to survive, which they would have learned
\nfrom their mother, need to be learned through the rehabilitation
\nprogram, which is a very long and intensive process, she said.
\n"In addition, all primates are completely traumatized, because
\nthey lose their mother in front of their eyes; that is the only
\nway a hunter can catch a baby gibbon."<\/p>\n
As all the monkeys that arrive at the rescue center are
\n"mentally ill from living a life in isolation and being beaten",
\nshe said the first step in their rehabilitation process was to
\nwin back their trust and help them learn to become a monkey
\nagain.<\/p>\n
"Younger primates require more intensive care, especially
\ngibbons, which are extremely sensitive and sometimes require the
\n24-hour care of a substitute mother."<\/p>\n
Primates also need to slowly adapt to a new diet, as former
\npet owners would have fed them human food, such as rice, satay or
\nwhatever else was around.<\/p>\n
Wider educational function<\/p>\n
Apart from directly rescuing animals in critical situations,
\nProAnimalia provides animal welfare education, campaigns for
\nbetter protection of the macaques' and advises and assists local
\ngovernments and residents to find humane solutions to control
\ncrop-raiding macaques.<\/p>\n
Sanchez said there was hope in talking to children about the
\ndangers of owning wildlife as they in turn could influence their
\nparents, by making them feel ashamed about buying wildlife.<\/p>\n
Owners and handlers of monkeys run the risk of contracting
\ntransmittable diseases, such as herpes, hepatitis or
\ntuberculosis.<\/p>\n
Sanchez stressed that educating children was important and
\nalthough the members of the NGO were working seven days a week at
\nthe rescue center, they would be available to give a presentation
\nat schools if requested.<\/p>\n
"Macaques are quite popular to keep as pets, but the problem
\nis once they turn four, five or six years old, they become
\naggressive and people want to dump them," den Haas said.<\/p>\n
What also is not known to the buyer is that for every macaque
\nthat ends up as a pet, at least three others have been killed,
\nusually the mother and its relatives, as primates protect each
\nother.<\/p>\n
In addition, 50 percent of all baby macaques caught in the
\nwild die from stress, deprivation or malnutrition. They also die
\nfrom infections or internal bleeding caused by a hunter's
\nbullets.<\/p>\n
The group has in its care 40 macaques; 20 of them have been
\nrescued this year, and another 20 have been handed over to the
\nSukabumi rescue center.<\/p>\n
"We hope to make this program bigger, to raise enough funds to
\nhelp macaques on a bigger scale," den Haas said.<\/p>\n
For further information, call the rescue center directly on
\n5554219, or visit ProAnimalia's website at www.ProAnimalia.org.<\/p>",
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