International Animal Rescue: Three more lives saved

The International Animal Rescue team in Indonesia has been under a lot of pressure with several urgent rescues coming hot on the heels of the well publicised translocations of four orangutans, stranded and starving in devastated forest.

The team was called to help help an orangutan who was getting dangerously close to humans due to habitat loss.  The rescue team traveled to Sukamaju, which is only about 30 minutes from the centre, and was able to capture the large but thin male.  After a short time of stabilisation, he was then translocated to a larger area of forest where our field team has reported seeing him again, but with a healthier body condition.

Sukma is wary but coping well with her new situation

The next week, two more  babies came under the team’s care.  The first, named Sukma, is more wild in nature and had been taken in by a man after he found her on a rambutan (fruit) plantation near a palm oil plantation.  She is about 4 years old and was too much for the man to handle, so IAR was called in.  There is no indication of what happened to her mother.  She remains very cautious of humans, but is doing fine in quarantine. 

Hopefully Gembar will soon be able
to join the other babies in the
forest enclosure

Gembar is the name of the second baby, aged about two and a half to three years old. She had been in the care of a family for one year.  They were out fishing one day and found her after she had supposedly been left by her mother – something we know to be very unlikely.  She had been receiving weekly baths, and was let out of her cage to play once a week as well.  Her diet was lacking in fruits and vegetables, and consisted mostly of milk, rice, and fish.  She is adjusting well and awaiting further medical checks.

The work carried by our project teams in the field is nothing short of heroic, and we are frequently amazed and awed by the lengths they go to protecting and rescuing orangutans, often putting themselves in tremendous danger themselves. Please show them your support!

Spring update from International Animal Rescue

by vet Christine Nelson

Spring has sprung in Sungai Awan, and all the babies and juveniles have now arrived at their new forest home and are ready to take part in the rehabilitation process.

New arrivals Tribun and Onyo have both graduated from quarantine and are finding their place within the small baby group. Amin has also gained medical clearance, and he is learning the routine fast and making new friends in the forest clan.

Onyo is settling down with his new friends in the
baby group, and practices climbing trees each day

Even though the location is new, the population density of orangutans is unnaturally high, and the their mischievous and destructive play behavior is taking its toll on the trees. Saving more forested land for future use is still a priority for the further development of these young animals. As their individual skills are revealed, groups are being formed to encourage the rest to learn from those who are more ‘forest savvy’. Some clever orangutans are even making decent nests and choosing to spend the occasional night in the forest. The team is working hard to keep order, although some orangutans seem to want to follow a schedule of their own...!

The team is also creating new protocols to ensure the health, safety, and happiness of all the animals and workers. We have also started to implant radio-tracking transmitters in some of the orangutans we release back into the wild, so that in the future we can follow these orangutans closely and learn from their trials and successes in the field.

Creating enrichment for macaques

by biologist and M.Sc student Wendy Gomez, in Ciapus

Being able to do my dissertation project on macaques at the International Animal Rescue centre in Ciapus, Indonesia has certainly been a privilege, not only because it is a great opportunity to grow academically and professionally, but mainly because it has given me the chance to appreciate the magnificence of these animals while I help their rehabilitation process.

 

One of our rescued macaques has a snack

When it comes to any reintroduction programme, it is fundamental to assure the animals’ ability to obtain food in the wild since it is one of the main challenges they will all have to overcome in order to survive and thrive after release.

Now, taking into consideration that most of these macaques come from the pet trade and have spent years in captivity (either as pets, street beggars or performers), it is very important to make sure they know how to forage for food in their own habitat - which is very different from finding food in a plate or in a human hand - so they don’t starve to death once they’re released. For this, the keepers at the centre are always trying to come up with creative ways to present the food, using puzzle feeders and feeding devices (made of natural materials such as bamboo branches and other trees) so the amount of time spent by the animals in foraging activities increases, and their foraging skills improve.

Adding the secret ingredients

As part of my project and after talking with the keepers, we decided to make a foraging box to give the animals a small representation of what they would find in the wild. Since macaques spend some time foraging on the ground, and besides fruit they also eat insects, leaves and small vertebrates, we thought we could put some of these “ingredients” together in the box, in a way that resembled the natural appearance of their habitat: some soil covered with a thick layer of foliage, branches and rocks that they would have to manipulate to find the fruit and the insects.

Once the first box was made, we put the soil, rocks, insects, seeds, leaves and small pieces of fruit inside, put one box in a cage and then waited for the animals’ reactions...

Even though I really wanted the box to work (that would mean seeing the animals forage for at least more than a few minutes on it), I was somehow expecting them to break the box or just take everything out in a second. However, they were carefully moving and manipulating the branches, leaves and rocks to find the crickets, worms and pieces of fruit that were hidden inside. The box was big enough to let 3 macaques use it, and they didn't forage for a few minutes, but for more than 2 hours! :)

This not only gave us a clue that we were on the right direction with this new enrichment and it’s something we might be able to use in the long term, but it also showed me that I was underestimating the intelligence and abilities of these animals.

So, we are still working on some improvements for this box to see if we can increase the amount of time the animals use it, but we are excited to know we had a good start with this idea and we are looking forward to testing the new version and see if we can use it with other groups of macaques!

The foraging box certainly went down well with the residents!

International Animal Rescue's Primate Diaries: Dramatic rescues

Four more are safe...

...For now.

This mother tried to hide up the only remaining tree. The
team searched desperately for her baby but without success 

International Animal Rescue and the local foresty department (BKSDA) in Ketapang received reports of several orangutans trapped in the fragmented areas of forest near a palm oil plantation in Tanah Merah, which is about 3 hours by car from the new rescue and rehabilitation centre in Sungai Awan. With their forest home destroyed, the animals scattered and began to wander the area in search of food and a new place to live. The palm oil company asked for help to move the orangutans, who had become a nuisance because they were eating the young fruits from the palm oil trees.  A collection of forestry department workers, assisted by individuals from IAR, had already begun conducting environmental surveys in the bordering forest to find an appropriate place to relocate the orangutans. They found evidence that the orangutans were eating bark and stems, as there was little fruit and few leaves available.

Our team worked fast on a general health check while
the animals were sedated

In the third week of March, the rest of the IAR/BKSDA team arrived to see the desolate and depressing landscape, which is the product of the destruction of the forest within the borders of the plantation. Workers from the palm oil company helped the team to locate the individuals in need of rescue. The first was an adult female who had been spotted with a baby. When the rescue team arrived, the baby could not be found, and it is suspected that it was taken to be kept as a pet, sold to the highest bidder, or worse. The mother, who was still lactating, scrambled high into a single bare tree, so there was no good way to sedate her at that time. The group waited for her to come down and followed her across the apocalyptic terrain before she was safely captured.  

This orangutan and her baby were starving to death due to
deforestation. 

A second female was caught while traveling along the ground, and she was found to be pregnant. It was already dark when she recovered from the sedative, but she had to be released that night as she was very stressed in the transport cage.

The last two to be moved came together as a mother-baby pair, which complicated the darting process because the baby was clinging tightly to her mother’s back the entire time.  Both were very thin, but the mother handled the drugs well, and the baby silently watched while still clinging on.

The baby clung tightly to his mother throughout the entire
process

Heavy rain fell on the team and the animals during the transfer, but everyone made it safely to the forest at the border of the plantation. The future remains questionable for all in the forest, and saving the land from further industrial use is of utmost importance for the orangutans.

Watch the video of the dramatic rescues.

International Animal Rescue: Good news from the slow loris team

Good news from the Salak Mountain slow loris monitoring programme

By vet Wendi Prameswari

Arjuna has his tracking collar changed

On 30 March, Arjuna, a released male Javan slow loris, was caught by the monitoring team because his collar was due to be changed. Arjuna had survived seven months in the forests of Mount Salak, displaying extensive ranging and active behaviours. The medical team went too in order to give him a health check whilst the collar was being replaced. Arjuna was found to be in good condition with a body weight of 840 grams. His body weight had dropped slightly since he was first released, but this is always expected owing to the increase in foraging and travelling requirements once back in the wild. A new collar was fitted and monitoring will now continue for another six months until he has successfully survived across the two seasons (wet and dry).

Arjuna poses for the camera beautifully before his
release back into his jungle home

There are close to 100 slow lorises at our rescue centre in Ciapus, Java – all victims of the illegal wildlife trade which in recent years has been fuelled by YouTube videos depicting them as cute, cuddly pets. Eighty per cent of the rescued lorises have had their teeth cut out by the pet traders before they are sold – a cruel and painful practice which frequently leads to infection, septicaemia and death.

Our team in Ciapus continues to investigate whether slow lorises that have lost their teeth can still survive and fend for themselves in the wild.

International Animal Rescue: Back to back rescues!

By vet Christine Nelson

Amin has finally arrived! It took nearly 24 hours of travel over a great distance and bumpy roads, but he has found a new home in Sungai Awan. The rescue team took the long journey through some areas of destroyed forest to the staff quarters of a mining company where Amin was kept as a pet for 2 years.  He was purchased by the company’s owner and mostly spent his time chained around the hips with a tree house for shelter.  Once he got a little older and a bit more destructive, he was moved to a platform in a tree, and the chain was put around his neck. 

Amin is gently lifted out of the
elevated platform he had been chained to

Amin is about 5 years old now and seems to be in good health despite his previous diet of rice and fried chicken with some fruits.  His behaviour has been a little unpredictable, but he is calming down and settling in fairly well. He has gone through some initial testing, but he will have to be re-evaluated, especially because of his long period of contact with humans.  

Soon after plans were made to pick up Amin, International Animal Rescue was made aware of another baby in need of rescue. It was hoped that this next new addition could be picked up the same day, but the team would have arrived too late in the night, so the operation had to be postponed. A couple of days later, a team was able to return and found a male orangutan named Onyo, aged between a year to 18 months old. This little one had lived with a man for about 7 months, and had been drinking milk and eating rice. The man stated that he likes to keep animals and that he found Onyo at the bottom of a tree after seeing the mother run away. This is highly unlikely, females orangutans do not simply leave their babies, so it is assumed that his mother met with a more unfortunate end. 

Little Onyo is bold and brave out in
the safety of the forest enclosure

Onyo is quite agreeable and has allowed us to do some health screening without sedation. He has a couple of dry skin lesions, but is in good health otherwise.  Onyo is having fun climbing in the trees and shaking the branches, as well as trying lots of new foods.  He seems to have no problem being in front of the camera, and he likes to offer many poses.  

Watch out for further updates on the progress of Amin and Onyo, as we will have more stories to tell after their quarantine is fulfilled and they can be introduced to the rest of the orangutans.

International Animal Rescue: Update from the orangutan centre

By vet Christine Nelson

Roy shows off his his multi-tasking skills

Times are busy for the orangutans in Sungai Awan, as well as for the humans looking after them.  We are constantly tweaking the routine to better accomodate the animals and give them the most natural day possible.  The orangutans are always being encouraged to climb and explore in the forest.  Some possess strong instincts and are traveling high in the trees in search of fruit, ants, and termites, or they are settling down to make a nest.  Others are busy playing with the group and still learning what the forest has to offer.

Butan, Marcela, Merah, and Roy seem to be at the top of the class in forest school and more regularly go off on their own. Ongky, Ujang, Bandut, Sigit, and Puyol have now been brought from the transit center, which means we have successfully moved nearly half the orangutans to their new home in Sungai Awan. The latest arrivals are enjoying being the biggest individuals on site, but with plans for more moves soon, that won’t last long.  Joyce still acts a bit spoilt and cries when she doesn’t get her way, but she is playing well with Gunung, Noel, Rocky, and Rickina in the small baby group.  They have a fabulous spot in the forest where they can climb high in the trees or play on the hammocks and platforms provided. 

Best buddies Gunung and Noel couldn't be happier
than when they're swinging through the trees!

The transit center is a little quieter these days, as the number of babies that go to the play yard is smaller.  We are still making plans for moving the rest of the younger ones as construction continues.  Many of the adults are becoming familiarized with behaviors like presenting body parts for inspection or giving an arm for drawing blood voluntarily.  This provides some enrichment as well as allows for better medical examination and health management of the older animals.

There is also a new young orangutan who came to the Sungai Awan center in mid-February. He has been named Tribun due to some of the newspaper press coverage his rescue received. He came from the grounds of a palm oil plantation in Kuala Satong, and we became aware of his presence with the help of a local villager.  His behavior is not very wild, which means he was probably kept in captivity for longer than has been admitted to authorities. Tribun is about a year and a half old, and there are faint lines worn into his skin around his waist where he may have been tied or chained.  He can travel pretty fast in the trees, but he is thin and his muscles are not that strong.  We are waiting for him to gain that strength before undergoing his full health tests under anesthesia.  Preliminary blood test results are clear, so hopefully he will meet the other babies in the coming weeks. Read the full story about Tribun’s rescue here.

Poor Tribun was found living in a cardboard box

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