Tiger cubs and orangutans enchant visitors at the Baby Zoo
Tiger cubs and orangutans enchant visitors at the Baby Zoo
By Maria Kegel
BOGOR, West Java (JP): Ask anybody who has been to Taman
Safari in Bogor which part they enjoyed the most, and they will
invariably say the Baby Zoo.
Apart from exhibits of birds and several rare species, there
are Bengal and rare white tiger cubs, orangutans and a leopard
which await inquisitive children and adults for petting and
picture-taking.
Yulius H. Suprihardo, a member of the public relations staff
at Taman Safari, said the Baby Zoo, which allows children and
adults to interact with animals, was one of the most popular
attractions at the park, with the tiger cubs getting the most
attention.
The Baby Zoo is divided into several areas, starting with
several species of birds flying around an open aviary visitors
walk through, followed by rows of tall cages housing larger
protected birds from around the archipelago. The interaction
starts here with zookeepers available to take out a large, and
heavy, Great Hornbill, which perches tamely on willing left arms.
Each area of the zoo is tended by zookeepers, including the
Baby Zoo where ten are stationed.
After visitors wind their way past the enclosures of the white
tigers, a puma and red pandas, they encounter seven tiger cubs, a
leopard and five orangutans of various ages, all within their
respective fenced huts.
About six tiger cubs of three months of age in the first hut
attracted the biggest audience. Only one tiger cub was awake,
although it sat quietly while it was moved about for pictures by
the zookeeper. The others were curled up together, snoozing in a
cage with an open door off to the side.
Despite the large weekend crowd of visitors, not all of the
children or adults wished to sit next to the cubs for a photo,
preferring instead to watch them from behind the hut's encircling
fence.
There were, however, many visitors brave enough to enter the
enclosure, including Grace Susanti, 11, and her brother, William,
8, who both said they were not scared and enjoyed the experience.
Before Grace entered the hut to have her picture taken, she
gently stopped a wandering cub which had awakened and was exiting
the enclosure. She quietly guided it back in, without thinking
twice.
Yulius said the tiger cubs often walked out of the ringed
enclosure, "but they don't get too far".
However, two larger six-month-old white tiger cubs, which are
housed in the furthest hut, are made to stay inside their area,
and take turns with visitors. While one is inside a cage, which
has a height of 60 centimeters and a length of one meter, the
other poses with visitors.
Here, a mother, Heryati, fearlessly placed her two-year-old
son, Arief, next to the tiger for a picture.
Asked why she did not hesitate to put her son next to the
tiger, she replied she "trusts the zookeeper".
One visitor, though, reported she saw a zookeeper teasing an
orangutan, which looked scared.
Yulius said zookeepers were not allowed to overfeed or
mistreat the animals, or to ask visitors for money as the staff
received a good salary from the park management.
He explained all zookeepers went through special monitored
training, which, depending on the trainee's progress, lasted from
one to three months.
"Applicants are interviewed first, and are asked if they love
animals, then they are watched how they are with the (animals)
during the initial training."
Yulius said the zookeepers must love the animals and that they
are in charge of feeding them, monitoring their health and
alerting one of the three veterinarians on staff if there is a
health concern.
The zookeepers benefit from ongoing seminars and workshops, as
well as from visiting zookeepers, who give them one to two weeks
of training on caring for new species, such as the polar bear
from the Adelaide Zoo and the sea lions from California.
Baby animals "work" from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and are fed twice
daily, in the morning and the afternoon, four kilograms of sliced
meat. There is always water for the animals in their huts, Yulius
said.
A tiger cub can join the Baby Zoo when it is two months old,
but it is removed and placed in another part of the zoo when it
is between the age of nine months and one year, depending on its
size and weight. Each animal has a different age limit for
staying in the Baby Zoo, he said.
The leopard at the Baby Zoo is two years old and sits
motionless while a handler places it on a visitor's lap.
Two observers said they were concerned about the possibility
of the young animals experiencing stress with so many strangers
around.
But Yulius said the handlers were told to watch for signs of
stress in the animals, including not eating and lethargy.
A veterinarian, Yohana Tri Hastuti, was on hand with three
syringes to administer to the three younger white tiger cubs. She
said they received high doses of Vitamin C to help supplement
their diets.
Recovery
Taman Safari, along with its Baby Zoo, was opened in 1986 and
averages about 1.2 million visitors a year.
However, during the height of the economic and political
crises in 1997 and 1998, there was a 40 percent drop in
attendance, seriously depleting a vital revenue source. Help came
from several organizations, including the Australasian Regional
Zoological Park and Aquaria (ARAZPA), which sent two containers
containing 16 tons of kangaroo meat each, the International Rhino
Foundation, which donated US$10,000, and the Azabu University of
Japan, which donated $2,000 and medicines for the animals.
"We can certainly handle the situation now without donations,
since attendance has returned to normal," Yulius said, adding
that, of course, donations of any kind were always welcome.
The government does not subsidize the park, but did provide
the land and allows the free import of kangaroo meat from
Australia to feed the 227 carnivores at the park.
A number of professionals and organizations have praised Taman
Safari as the best zoo in the country.
In an e-mail interview, Dr. Willie Smits, who heads an
operation for Wanariset Semboja research center to confiscate
illegally captured orangutans and rehabilitate them for release
back into the wild, said orangutans had died unnecessarily at
Ragunan Zoo, and many had died at Pematang Siantar and the zoo in
Medan.
"Taman Safari is holy compared to what so-called zoos in
Sumatra and Kalimantan (Banjarmasin and Pontianak) have done to
orangutans," he said.