Rescue centers struggle to return animals to the wild

Kanis Dursin and Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Cikananga, W. Java

A narrow, meandering road comes to a stop in front of an iron gate, and a man in his early 30s rushes to open it.

"Welcome to Cikananga," the man says, ushering in visitors one drizzly afternoon in Sukabumi, West Java.

At a glance, the Cikananga Animal Rescue Center (PPS Cikananga) seems a perfect destination for weekend escapes. Two dormitories -- one for girls, another for boys -- and three private bungalows are located to the left of the open-air parking lot, overlooking hundreds of hectares of rice fields and farms belonging to local residents.

Just a few meters from the dormitories is a kitchen with an open, spacious dining room. A volleyball court, which also serves as basketball and badminton courts, is situated to the left of the entrance gate. To the right of the parking lot is a two- storey building with a large multipurpose room and offices.

The gentle breeze and deep tranquility of the center makes it an ideal getaway from the hurly-burly of city life. It is not surprising, therefore, that some legislators and politicians from the capital have spent a night or two here.

The center is a non-governmental organization committed to the formidable task of helping endangered species reintegrate with their natural habitats and is located in Cikananga, an isolated village one hour's drive from Sukabumi.

A small, unpaved road divides the center, on the other side of which live close to 1,000 protected animals representing 117 species, including rare and endangered species, confiscated from or voluntarily surrendered by their owners to Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA) officers, who have occasionally launched raids on traders and owners of endangered animals.

"This is not an easy job, as most animals confiscated from or surrendered by their owners have long been separated from their natural habitats and have become accustomed to the human environment," said PPS Cikananga public relations officer Budi Harto.

PPS Cikananga is one of only five Animal Rescue Centers (PPS) set up in the country as temporary shelters for protected animals confiscated by or surrendered to the BKSDA. The others are: PPS Tegal Alur, Jakarta; PPS Petungsewu, Malang, East Java; PPS Yogyakarta; and PPS Bitung in Manado, North Sulawesi.

The centers' main job is to train rescued animals so they can return to their habitats and survive in the wild, and work under the supervision of the Indonesian Environment Database Center (PILI), an NGO, and is fully financed by the Gibbon Foundation.

Since its establishment in 2001, PPS Cikananga has received close to 2,000 protected animals from the local BKSDA and PPS Tegal Alur.

Budi said all animals taken into the center must be quarantined according to their species for at least 30 days to determine their state of health.

During this quarantine period, doctors check the health of each animal every day.

Iwan Kuraniawan of PPS Petungsewu said one quarantine cage contained 20 small iron cages and only veterinarians and animal keepers are allowed in to sterilize the cages every day.

Veterinarians conduct routine checkups on the animals, including their weight, body temperature, fur, skin, eyes, ears, mouth, tongue, teeth, nose and trachea.

During the mandatory quarantine period, the animals are given food they are accustomed to, and thus communication between former owners and the center play a decisive role in ensuring their survival.

Budi said most animals brought to PPS Cikananga were suffering from various diseases, including diabetes, obesity and herpes, particularly among primates like orangutans.

"Some animals suffer from stress, which can lead to death due to changes in the environment," he added.

Iwan Kurniawan, the executive director of PPS Petungsewu, concurred with Budi, saying that almost 80 percent of animals arrived sick and thus had to be isolated.

"Not all people are allowed to enter the PPS to keep the animals from suffering stress and to prevent diseases spreading from animals to human beings or vice versa," said Iwan.

"The sick animals have to be treated until they get well and will undergo rehabilitation training only after they fully recover," Budi said.

If the animals suffer from incurable diseases, they will be isolated at the center until they expire naturally.

"However, in extreme cases, when animals are suffering from deadly contagious diseases, they must be destroyed to prevent the disease from spreading to other animals.

"Killing animals is our last, most final resort," Budi said, adding that PPS Cikananga had so far killed only one antelope.

After quarantine, healthy animals are transferred either to rehabilitation centers or socialization cages. Indonesia only has four rehabilitation centers: orangutan rehabilitation centers in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, and in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan; owl centers in Palangkaraya and Padang, West Sumatra, and one gibbon center in Padang.

On Friday, PPS Cikananga is taking three orangutans to the Palangkaraya rehabilitation center.

Animals without specialized rehabilitation centers, such as avian species, are transferred to specially designed socialization cages at the center, where they are slowly reintroduced to their natural habitats.

The socialization aviary, for example, is designed to reflect the birds' natural habitats, while the birds are gradually reintroduced to their natural diet. Javanese eagles, for example, are given food like butchered chicken or dead snakes.

Iwan said animals of the same species fight with each other, often resulting in death. This is particularly true with primates.

To prevent fighting, PPS Petungsewu places newly transferred animals into a smaller cage within the socialization cage containing four to six animals of the same species. The new animals are usually confined within these small cages for seven to eight days to acclimatize the animals to each other, after which the new animals are released to join the community.

Sometimes, however, fights still flare up between new and old animals, prompting keepers to move the new animals to other cages containing the same species. It is often the case that the new group easily accept these retransferred animals.

"But it is not impossible that the animals will die from being rejected by animals in the second group. I don't have an alternative yet, because of the limited number of cages," Iwan said.

During the socialization period, which lasts at least three months, human contact is also limited so that the animals can cultivate their natural instincts.

After the animals show signs of being able to survive independently, they are again transferred -- this time to bigger cages so they can move around freely as in the wild.

Eagles, for example, are moved to aviaries with trees so they can learn to fly again. Instead of butchered chicken, dead snakes or rats, the eagles are given a diet of live chicken, snakes or rats and are thus "trained" to hone their hunting instinct. Human contact is strictly limited to feeding times.

The length of the training period depends on the animals and how quickly they readapt to their natural environment. However, before they are released into the wild, doctors and scientists examine the animals to determine whether or not they are ready to live in their natural habitats.

For example, PPS Cikananga consulted scientists from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) before releasing Javanese eagles.

Even after the animals are released into their natural environment, the animal centers continue to monitor them closely.

PPS Petungsewu has released 50 Javanese leaf monkeys (Presbytis comata) in the Hyang area at the foot of Argopuro Mountain, East Java -- which is far from hunters -- and for about a week, PPS Petungsewu workers closely monitored and provided food for the monkeys.

Iwan said that after one week, the monkeys adapted to their new surroundings and learned to find their own food.

Three years into its existence, PPS Cikananga, and perhaps also the other four animal centers, is now receiving more rescued animals than it had bargained for. Many animals the center accepts are too tame to be rehabilitated and returned to the wild.

Some bird species, especially cockatoos, have learned to speak, which makes it difficult for them to be rehabilitated, while some orangutans have picked up human behavior and have developed a sexual drive for human beings.

In other cases, the natural habitats of particular species can no longer be found, mostly because of environmental destruction.

"We have to keep those animals at the center, in accordance with our animal welfare principle," Budi said.

The number of animals that cannot be rehabilitated or released, however, continues to swell, creating a tremendous financial burden for PPS Cikananga, which spends around Rp 50 million a month on food for the rescued animals in their care.

"We want the people of Indonesia to help save our endangered species by financing the animal center," said Budi, as the Gibbon Foundation was financing the project for only five years.