November Blog update from International Animal Rescue in Ketapang

By vet Christine Nelson

Galang, Merah and the rest of the gang are thriving!

Galang, the newest addition, adjusted quickly and has been doing well during his quarantine period. His medical exam and testing procedures went well, and we are eagerly awaiting the results to see him on to the next stage. He will be introduced to the others in the baby school, where he should fit in well. Galang is being a good boy and eating his vegetables, which is a huge improvement from his previous diet. This will hopefully help him grow strong and maintain a healthier weight.

Merah has gotten over some of his apprehensions and is now coming out in the play yard with everyone else.  He does appreciate a little bit of time to explore on his own, but he also enjoys playing with Pedro and Cemong. According to some of our behavioral observations, he isn’t picky, and he likes to spend time with any and all of the baby school orangutans. He also likes to gather leaves and have a fine nest, so he sets a good example of forest living for his cage mates.

A rare photo of Pelangsi and his
attempts to build a nest!

Pelangsi continues to build nests and climb high in his cage. He has been given the thumbs up from a medical and behavioral standpoint, so we hope to finalize the details of his release in the near future.

Rocky is continuing the transition to a more solid diet, but he still likes to have his bottle. We are hoping to get him to try out a few new foods and grow a few new hairs! He does like to be close to someone, but he is not as dependent on humans and is finding comfort with his orangutan companions instead. Rocky has a new habit of wanting to be free of his diaper and has started spending more time with the rest of his friends “au naturel”. Rickina already eats some fruits and vegetables well, and she is growing stronger and more confident while playing with the bigger babies.

 

Rocky and Lady

Ucil seems to be getting along well in baby school although it is a bit of a challenge to keep him from exploring his boundaries (like the fences)! He requires a little extra when it comes to making sure he is mentally stimulated, and he has us all thinking of new ways to keep him busy learning skills he can apply to forest life in the future.

All of the orangutans are enjoying some temporary but wonderful improvements to the cages and play yards done recently by the enrichment team. The new center is coming along well, but there is still much work to be done …

For more information on our new orangutan rehabilitation centre, click here.

International Animal Rescue Primate Diaries Update

The team taking Singgih up the mountain to the habituation cage

On 20 November a Javan slow loris named Singgih was taken up to the habituation cage on Salak Mountain, West Java. Singgih will remain in this cage for a period of time (usually between 1-3 months) until the team are satisfied that he possesses the necessary skills for survival back in the wild. Observations of Singgih occur on a nightly basis and include the collection of behavioural, positional and locomotive data. 

The open top habituation cage

The period of time spent in the habituation cage is an important aspect of the rehabilitation process which helps the lorises to adapt to life back in the forest. If Singgih is unable to locate local food sources such as flowers, fruit and tree gum, catch live prey or navigate with ease through the canopy, his chances of survival will be substantially reduced. Based on the data collected by the monitoring team during the observation period, a decision will be made as to whether Singgih will be released or not. If Singgih is deemed not ready for release he may be kept for a longer period in the habituation cage or be brought back to the IAR centre for further rehabilitation.  Conversely, if he is considered ready, he will be released into the forest surrounding the habituation cage, where he will be monitored using radio-telemetry for a year long period.

Singghih peeping out of the transportation cage

Spot the slow loris!

October orangutan update from Ketapang

From vet Silje Robertsen

Pedro enjoying a well deserved
rest after play fighting duties

In Ketapang we have had a busy month with big changes for some of the animals. Roy and Merah finished their quarantine periods and have been introduced to the babies in our Baby School area. Roy is definitely one of the biggest in this group now, and he play-wrestles for hours with Cemong or Pedro: he is obviously enjoying being out of the boring quarantine cage. Merah has a much wilder nature than the ones who have been kept for long periods in captivity, and does not yet trust humans, but his wounds from the chain have healed well and he stays in the cage with the other babies at night time and seems to enjoy the company of the group.  During the day he is in a big cage with a nice view over the play ground, so that he can get used to his new surroundings and the baby- sitters at a safe distance.

Jack in a contemplative mood

Bandut and Jack were getting tired of the small space in the Baby School playground and have been moved to the juvenile group in the transit area. After an initial period of hesitation Jack threw himself in the play activities and quickly made friends with Bunga and the rest. Bandut stayed close to the babysitter at the beginning, but showed no fear of the older and stronger orangutans and quickly made new friends.

Rocky and Rickina are best buddies now!

Rocky has also finished his quarantine period and has been introduced to the rest of the youngest babies in our baby school. He had a soft start as he was first introduced to Rickina in her hammock and the two of them hit it off instantly and played and tumbled around for hours. Rocky still has mental traumas and is very fragile as a result of his malnourishment. He will need special attention during his rehabilitation process, but he is already showing great progress and gaining weight - and he is no longer afraid of bananas!

Pelangsi is continuing to show good progress and this month he has undergone a new examination under general anaesthesia. The amputated arm is without swelling and the operation wound is healed, so the prospects are looking good for releasing him soon!

Little Galang peeps down at his rescuers

On the 30^th of October we received a new young orangutan, a male called Galang of about two and a half years old. What his true background is we will probably never know for sure, but he was surrendered by workers at a palm oil company in the area Sukadana. They in turn claim to have received him from villagers who found Galang eating in their garden. The palm oil company then kept the orangutan for two weeks before handing him over to the forestry department, feeding him fried chicken and other human food items. Galang is in a general healthy condition, apart from a mild overweight probably due to the malnourishment. He is also very used to humans, indicating that his captive situation has been going on for much longer than two weeks. He is now in our quarantine area and will undergo a health screening after a period of acclimatizing to his new surroundings.  

Rahayu and Rocky get glowing progress reports

By vet Silje Robertsen

Rahayu posing for the camera!

Rahayu is doing very well these days and you can hardly tell she has a small handicap in her eye sight. Her only problem is being slightly cross eyed but she gets around just as well as the rest. She does tend to stay closer to the baby sitters than some of the others, but she still plays actively and does not seem to be hindered by her eye sight. The only problem we have is that she loves to eat, and is starting to get a bit tubby around around the edges! She is a lovely orangutan, sweet and gentle with the rest of the gang and eyes that could melt any heart. Her favourite play-pal is Gunung, perhaps because he keeps a slower pace than some of the bigger ones, and so they're a good match.

Rocky is recovering well

Rocky is doing really well too and is behaving more and more like a "normal" baby orangutan. When he came he was hugging himself frantically as he had probably been kept by himself in a small space. He is not used to eating fruit raw and is often scared when we offer him different things - like banana! So we have been mashing foods together and giving it to him as a drink, as he likes to drink from the bottle  which is probably all he knows. Slowly though he is trying new things and although he stills cries if he thinks he's being left alone, he seems a lot more confident and is gaining strength and body weight by the day. 

Mawar the slow loris suffers a serious injury

by Executive Director Karmele Llano Sanchez

Our loris monitoring team in Java recently discovered that Mawar, a female slow loris who was under observation in Gunung Salak, had an injury on her left hand. It looked as if she could have been caught in a snare, although this is pretty unlikely. She may have just got caught up in some wire.

The injury was severe and, even though the medical team did their best to save Mawar’s hand, it became quite necrotic and regrettably we had to amputate it a few days ago.

So now we are caring for a loris that has had a hand amputated, as well as an orangutan. We hope Mawar, like Pelangsi, will make a good recovery from the surgery, and then she too will be kept under observation by the team to see how well she learns to cope with her new handicap.

Rocky the orangutan is the latest arrival at our rescue centre

 By  vet Silje Robertsen

A young male orangutan that was surrendered by his owner to the forestry department in Ketapang,West Kalimantan on 4 October is the latest arrival at our rescue centre. Very little is known about his circumstances other than that he was being kept in a cage.

The orangutan’s name is Rocky and he is about one year old. He is extremely malnourished which, apart from his low body weight, is also indicated by his lack of hair, particularly on his head which is completely bald!

The infant is severely traumatised and requires constant encouragment to eat and drink. The medical team and the babysitters are caring for him around the clock to make him feel secure and build up his confidence. He  is currently being looked after in the baby quarantine area where he will be given plenty of time to recover in the weeks ahead before he is introduced to the other babies.

 

We’ll keep you posted on young Rocky’s progress ...

Rescuing Laura

By volunteer Laurence from Hong Kong

25 September 2012 was a memorable day for me as a volunteer for IAR in Bogor, Indonesia. I was glad to be in the team for the rescue of a Javanese slow loris, Laura. I was really lucky to have an opportunity like this, particularly as I’m not able to stay here all that long!

In the morning of that day, I was told that there would be a rescue of a slow loris from a village near the primate rehabilitation centre here. It had been reported to IAR that someone in the village had a slow loris at their home and they would like to hand it over. We set off in the afternoon with a veterinarian, Dr Anne Dawydowa, and two IAR staff. All of us were excited to see the slow loris but, at the same time, also worried about the condition it would be in.

The location was just a small village. We wondered how they could have bought a slow loris from an animal market. Or even worse, had they captured it from the wild? I was curious to know where they had got this animal...

When we arrived, someone from the house took us to the slow loris. She had been put in a pet cage with a flattened cardboard box and some mango as food inside. She seemed scared to be exposed and was huddling in the corner. However, she still looked bright and not as bad as we had imagined. We had prepared a transport box with shade for the slow loris, so our vet tried to get Laura out of the pet cage and into our box as quickly as possible in order to reduce her stress. Slow lorises are nocturnal animals and they have a shy nature. Being exposed to sunlight and surrounded by people can be very stressful for them.

Unfortunately, some bloody stains were found on the cardboard box while our vet was handling the slow loris. We discovered that she was bleeding slightly from two wounds. One was between her index finger and thumb and another one was on her wrist. It was also noticed that some of her teeth were missing. This is very common among the slow lorises sold in the animal market and is done to prevent them biting the traders. Our vet put her quickly and carefully into our box, and some foliage as well, so that she would be more comfortable in a familiar environment. We covered the box well and then asked the owner some questions about Laura.

According to the owner, he had found the slow loris two weeks previously in a swimming pool and had brought it back home. It seemed he didn't even know what kind of animal it was as he looked surprised when he was told that it was a 'kukang' (slow loris in Indonesian.)

It was possible that he didn't intend to keep it as pet, but found he didn't know much about handling this 'kukang' after having taken it back home and so contacted IAR for help.

Our action was not only taking Laura but, more importantly, also educating the local people that wild animals should not be kept as pets. Their understanding could prevent similar stories happening again. So this was a real 'rescue operation’ for all slow lorises in Indonesia, not just Laura.

Laura is now in the care of our veterinary team and her wounds seem much better. We will keep on observing both her physical and behavioural status.  Hopefully one day she can be released back to where she belongs.