Sutiyem brings love to zoo animals

By Tarko Sudiarno and Nugroho CH

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Slamet and Widodo looked uneasy. The two Sumatran tigers at Gembira Loka park and zoo in Yogyakarta paced to and fro in their spacious cage.

Once in a while they roared, showing their terrifying fangs.

They calmed down when an elderly woman approached the cage. As the wrinkled hands of the 59-year-old woman held the iron bars of the cage, Slamet and Widodo simultaneously raised their front paws, obviously wishing to touch the old woman. Prevented by the iron bars, the two tigers only licked her palms.

"You must be hungry, eh," Sutiyem said tenderly to the tigers. She gazed proudly at the fat and healthy animals.

"Don't be naughty, all right!" she said when leaving the cage after playing with the two beasts.

Sutiyem is not a wild animal tamer, but an ordinary old woman. Slamet and Widodo are close to her because they used to be under her care when she cared for them in the zoo's animal nursery.

Born prematurely, Slamet and Widodo were separated from their mother and placed in intensive care. Sutiyem was assigned to nurse them. Just like a mother taking care of her child, Sutiyem looked after the two baby tigers. She prepared their milk substitute and never complained when she had to wake up in the middle of the night to feed them.

It was also Sutiyem who gave the two tigers their present names. In Javanese slamet and widodo both mean "safety" -- she chose the names in the hope the tigers would survive.

Her wish has been fulfilled; Slamet and Widodo are almost a year old now. They have grown so big that Sutiyem can no longer put them on her lap to give them milk from a bottle.

They have been put in their cage since they were five months old. Although Sutiyem has been relieved of her job to feed the animals, she always finds time to see them after finishing her duties in the animal nursery of Gembira Loka.

Sutiyem began to work in Gembira Loka in 1964, with her main job to prepare food for the animals. She would be up as early as 6 a.m. to prepare food for the animals; today she can recite from memory the type of food, the portions and the eating schedule for each type of animal at the site.

One day she was by chance assigned to nurse baby animals, particularly the cubs of animals born in the wild. After a lioness died giving birth, the zoo management, without much consideration, assigned her to take care of the cubs.

Nursemaid

Sutiyem could do the job excellently and she has since been unofficially known as a regular nursemaid for orphaned cubs or those separated from their mothers because of safety concerns.

From her 30 years at the zoo, she cannot remember how many baby animals she has saved. She has cared for chimpanzees, orangutans, gibbons and civet cats.

Sutiyem met her husband, Manto Suwito, at Gembira Loka. Sutiyem and Manto, now retired, were blessed with two daughters, Sri Lestari, who works in the cooperative at the zoo, and Sri Asih, a worker in Malaysia.

Sutiyem said the most important thing in taking care of the cubs was affection. She said she treated the cubs the same way she treated her children.

It is no surprise that no cubs have died under her care during her years at the park. "Perhaps I will also cry if a cub dies, just like a mother mourning the death of her child," she said.

She talks to the cubs, believing the animals understand the intent of what she says.

"Although they are wild animals, they know when you pour affection on them. They are not ungrateful while people often are," she said.

The animals show their affection in return. In once instance, an adult civet cat broke out of its cage and found its way to her home.

"Mom, your child is looking for you," Sutiyem's husband shouted when he found the cat sitting outside their home at 6 a.m..

At first Sutiyem took her husband's words seriously. She rushed to open the door but burst out laughing when she saw the cat sitting in front of the door.

"Why so early? Come on now, go back to your cage," she said soothingly. The civet cat did exactly as it was told.

Today Sutiyem is caring for a special animal: a lion cub aged almost three months. She calls it Legi, the day in the Javanese calendar on which it was born. Every morning she takes Legi for a walk so that it can enjoy the warmth of the sun. After the walk, she puts it on her lap and within minutes the cub will finish a bottle of milk Sutiyem prepared for it.

Sutiyem also jokes with Legi and converses with it. Then she takes it back to its special quarantine room.

"How are young doing? You must like lying in the sun while I scratch your head," she said. Legi seemed to understand her as it lay comfortably on her lap.

She also converses with several orangutans under her care every time she gives them some warm tea.

"Come on, take turns. The tea is enough for every one of you," she said, when the orangutans vied with one another for the tea.

"They will not drink the tea if it is not mixed with sugar. They are just like humans and can tell the difference between what is nice to drink and what is not. The only difference is that they cannot speak," she said.

Belying her modest and benign attitude, Sutiyem has done a lot to enrich the lives of the animals under her care. Yet she does not grumble about her salary or her working hours.

Instead, her instinct as a mother comes through as she does her utmost to save her animals. In doing so she also teaches others a valuable lesson: fierceness can be melted by the love of a mother.