Again I appear to have left this place lacking an update for a good couple of months. It’s just finding the time to write between the work and the recovering from the work. Now though I am coming to the end of my stay in Tasikoki. I cannot volunteer forever, unfortunately, and that time has come, I must move on and earn some money. That being said I shall always be working with animals in one aspect or another and I will expand this blog to cover future adventures and escapades not just my time here at Tasikoki, as long as I can keep up with the updates. But I digress…
So what has happened in the past 4 months? People wise, we have had a nice flow of volunteers all coming and going, sharing experiences and generally being amazing fun to work and live with. As for me, I have been able to cover most of my Enrichment Coordinator work, working through enrichment catalogues creating frameworks, and other roles around the centre. At the moment I have had to take back a few extra responsibilities as we mourned the loss of our Primate Husbandry Coordinator. He had to go back home due to back difficulties, but these things cannot be helped. On a side note we had to renew our visas a little while ago which involved us travelling to Singapore for a week. It was an interesting trip all around really, the city is great, as far as cities go (never particularly liked cities). Though we did learn that we had been in the jungle too long through events like standing in front of a window of a mall expecting it to be an automatic door, Western World 1 – Scott 0! On the other hand, as vacations involving me usually turn out, we had to investigate the Singapore’s Zoos (Zoo, Night Safari, River Safari & Jurong Bird Park). These turned out to be some of my favourite Zoos I have visited – pictures to be uploaded, when I am back in the UK, to my photo blog and 500px account. I have made a note to visit these if and when I have long layovers win Singapore in the future.
Anyway enough about me, an update on the animals. Our real change in the animals here is that we have had an increase, two influxes of confiscations have occurred in the past months. Many Sulawesi Crested Macaques, 1 Gorontalo Macaque, 1 Long-tailed Macaque, 2 Bear Cuscus, 1 Reticulated Python, 1 Pig-nosed Turtle, and a menagerie of birds have all joined the animals already in safety at Tasikoki and are doing much better for it. It is more important than ever that Tasikoki now has the support in needs in order to build facilities to accommodate the victims of the illegal wildlife trade.
On that note I think I’ll mention some of the stories of our new arrivals:
There is Rudi, a very “chatty”, young Crested Macaque who had been chained up, around his waist, for over 2 years to a tree at car wash in Manado with no shelter from the sun or rain.
Jacky, the macaque featured by the BBC, whose story won’t air in the Crested Macaque documentary in October but will be in a web program on the BBC website at the same time, his story is very much typical. He had been tied around the waist to a tree, in this case in a tree, over hanging a road. This restricted existence, forced to live with close air pollution, had been home for many years. Most shockingly, soon after removing him from his tree, a passing vehicle destroyed the tree, by some miracle this hadn’t happened during the long time he had been living there.
Then there is Jack, a Gorontalo Macaque, whose suffering I witnessed first-hand with a group of volunteers on our way to our Wednesday excursion before Christmas. He had been tied to a post under mango tree at a tyre workshop after moving from Manado. The owners had taught him how to smoke cigarettes; he also has a damaged hip joint from some unknown cause.
There is also Bobby, another case of animal cruelty as well as the illegal wildlife trade. An extremely skinny mature male Crested Macaque, his fur had also turned ginger-brown, instead of being its usual jet black, due to malnutrition. He has since gained some weight and his fur is turning back to its usual black.
Two Ornate Lories were recently confiscated from a house near Mt. Klabat. A common story with birds here, they were chained to frames hanging outside a house, unable to fly and being fed unsuitable food for a high energy bird like a Lory.
A Papuan Sulphur-crested Cockatoo was rescued recently. Again tied to a perch, however, outside a restaurant near Manado. Unfortunately she is a little psychologically disturbed from her captive condition and previous owners.
Two young Bear Cuscus were confiscated from villagers on Bunaken Island after their mother had been killed and eaten. A common story in the illegal wildlife trade, an animal’s parents being killed.
A large male Cassowary kept as a pet in a backyard with a pile of junk and a bunch of chickens. A large, dangerous, fruigvorous bird being hand fed fish, rice and sambal… that’s just not right.
A quite severe case of this trade. A VERY skinny, young Crested Macaque was kept by the side of a very busy road. He had been bought to be trained and used as a Topeng Monyet (Google it, it’s terrible). Well apparently he didn’t perform well so he was called stupid and left to starve by the side of the road.
These are but a few examples of the cases and miss treatment of wildlife that arrives here. All wildlife in the illegal wildlife trade (believe me it is a lot, the trade is worth $20 billion annually) are subjected to conditions like this and worse. It is only places like Tasikoki, with people who care who can help them. If you do care please support these organisations in whatever way you can, it doesn’t have to be Tasikoki just somewhere that helps. Everyone can help make a difference.
So this is my last update from Tasikoki, but won’t be the last update of adventures with Wildlife. We’ll see where the next one turns up.
Ta Ta
Scott