Borneo - Matang Wildlife Centre Where do l begin? This has been an eye opening, heart warming and heart wrenching, fun and adventurous experience... and we have only worked 3 days so far!!! The staff are absolutely fabulous and totally dedicated to the welfare of the animals... considering they are full time volunteers who have put their life back home on hold, they have my full respect. The animals are kept in enclosures, some huge, some small, awaiting enclosures to be built, but all are well fed, kept clean and very healthy. Their enclosures are swapped around and enrichment added mostly on a daily basis, to curb the boredom, keep them interested and active. There are a number of orangutans... all with their individual looks, traits, habits and personalities. There is; Aman, the huge male who was confiscated from a market and the first orangutan to ever have cataract surgery Catherine the chubby 20+yo Doris the cigarette smoker (if she can get her hands on one) And Tingsan the small male who arrived by taxi after the police found him whilst arresting his owner. They all have their own history, but are now well cared for. There are 2 wild orangutans that live in the jungle within the park and occasionally they break down a tree against the enclosure wall and assist with the great escape. But with lots of experienced staff on hand, the escapees are soon back where they live. The 6 sun bears are gorgeous. Also known as the honey bear, these are the Winnie the Pooh bears, but these are black. There are also many gibbons, long tailed macaques, pig tailed macaques, 2 iguanas, 2 MASSIVE reticulated pythons, hornbills, rhinoceros hornbills, a Bornean cockatoo & corella, crocodiles, a soft shell tortoise, turtles, sambar deer, a leopard cat, bearcats (AKA binterong) and a Slow Loris. She is THE CUTEST baby l have EVER seen!! The animals are not handled or touched at all, as they are in the process of rehabilitating, to return to the wild, where possible. Some of the animals have spent so much time in a tiny cage in the past, that they cannot cope with large areas now. It is very sad but some have had such traumatic lives, sometimes up to 20 years in a cage, that they will never recover. Sleepy the binterong, has a collar around his neck that cannot be removed, as his skin has grown over it. The keepers put him in a beautiful enclosure, but he was so stressed that they had to put him back into the reasonably sized, but smaller enclosure. He is just so cute but cant be rehabilitated. So sad. There are many ways the animals have come to be at Matang... from the illegal pet trade, backyard breeding, market stalls, even a Government minister who bought his children a sun bear as a pet, but when it got too big he handed it over to Matang. The work has been great... * A jungle walk to the ranger station as a familiarisation as to where the rangers stay when releasing animals * Cleaning cages whilst trying to avoid the tiny hands on the end of looong arms, that reach out to grab the brooms and squeegy! * Feeding the various animals * Giving out sunbear enrichment: we are to make it as hard as possible to get them climbing, moving and challenged: watermelon & canteloupe, honey & peanut butter... smeared up trees, on logs, fort, swings, up as high as possible to get them climbing. And dog biscuits: hidden in rocks, drains, cracks/holes in wood/logs, grass, buried: the bears can get them with their long tongue. * We went to see a 3+ metre Reticulated python released into jungle approx 1km from the park. It was caught 3 days beforehand, at a chook farm eating the stock! * The orangutan enrichment has included making triangle parcels of hesian with paper, leaves, bark, nuts/seeds, jam/peanut butter, clothes inside. * And of course maintenance and gardening jobs, such as cleaning toys, fixing hoses and enclosures, weeding and fertilising the new vegetable garden. Overall, this has been very rewarding so far. Today is our day off, so l am sitting in KFC (using the wifi, not eating) in Kuching, a lovely city. And fortunately the weather has been fairly kind to us, with daily rain to cool things down. Hope you enjoy my photos!!
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 06:29:11 +0000