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by Friends of
the National Parks Foundation (FNPF)
WILDLIFE PROGRAM
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Dr Smits (middle) & Drh Bayu (right) at a meeting |
In this period, we received several pieces of news
which may well affect our future. Firstly, the Gibbon Foundation held a
special meeting for its grant recipients to inform them that Gibbon will
withdraw from nearly all of its smaller programs starting January 2005. Field research funding will cease as will
funding for animal rescue centres (ARCs) which are not yet fully
functional. FNPF’s Bali program will
continue to be funded by the Gibbon Foundation, but our We thank Dr Willie Smits, Pak Iwan and the Gibbon
Foundation for their valuable support over many years. We look forward to
continued strong partnership in Bali, and hope to to work together again in |
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Secondly, FNPF has had several
discussions with the Park Head, Drs Bambang Darmadja, about undertaking a
review of the in-situ Orangutan Rehabilitation program at
Another issue is with the
‘feeding’ which attracts wild & semi-wild orangutans that has been ongoing
since the 1970s. Originally undertaken as part of rehabilitation, according to
the Park Director himself this is now for ‘ecotourism’ purposes. However, feeding raises concerns with
inappropriate tourist-wildlife interactions, risks of cross-disease transfer, resultant
inappropriate behaviour in orangutans that are by nature arboreal and
semi-solitary, and creating dependancy in new generations of potentially wild
orangutans. Against these, there are
concerns that changes to the program would impact tourism, plus there are
practical run-off considerations. Appropriate research also needs to be carried
out on the behaviour exhibited by 2nd & 3rd
generation orangutans from ex-rehabilitant mothers that to this day have not
dispersed and are dependant on supplementation.
FNPF strongly encourages any such review. We hope to
see a new program direction that would focus more strongly on orangutan
independence, health and wellbeing, minimising human-orangutan interaction and
supporting responsible ecotourism via “Wild Treks” to seek out orangutans &
other wildlife.
Meanwhile, this period saw a few animals
and birds being handed in to our clinic for treatment. First, we received a
pair of wood sandpipers handed in by a tourist who, on seeing four birds caged,
had taken pity on them and purchased them from Banjarmasin Bird Market. However, when he attempted to release them
immediately, the birds flew straight into the Martapura river and had to be
rescued by fishermen; two died & the third succumbed to stress shortly
after we received it. For the sole
survivor, Drh Yenny removed the damaged wing feathers; once these regrew, we
released the bird in a riverine setting.
As wood sandpipers are not endangered, we did not track the release
beyond the first week, but in that period, the released bird was seen to be
healthy and flying well.
Next, we received a small false ghavial
approximately 1 year old. The ghavial
measured ½ mtr; the owner, a hunter, had planned to sell it. However, because we had treated the owner’s dog,
he wanted to thank us and thus gave us the ghavial. As the ghavial was healthy & had only recently
been captured, we kept it under observation for a week, and then promptly
released it.
We also treated a Golden Kingfisher that was stunned
when it flew against the walls of the
In late February, we received an adult crested serpent
eagle handed in voluntarily; we’ve named him Caesar. Caesar was very ill when he arrived; he
refused food and drink, and was suffering from diarrhoea. We diagnosed him as
having Chronic Respiratory Disease (CRD).
Caeser is also blind in one eye and unable to fly although his flight
feathers all appear intact.
For the first few days, Caesar suffered
frequent bouts of dispnoe / breathing
difficulties; he had to be given oxygen, at one stage for several hours at a stretch. We treated him initially with
Oxytetracyclin, and then with enrofloxacin. His physical condition is now much
improved, but he is still very passive and has to be hand-fed; he has barely
moved even to preen his feathers.
We are keeping Caesar under 24 hour
surveillance for the time being; we are in the process of building him an
outdoor cage and will be assessing his potential for a less restricted life.
In early February,
Drh Yenny accompanied Mr. Saragih, a Forest Police officer, to collect a
baby orangutan handed in by the local population. The baby was weak, very thin, dehydrated and
suffering from diarrhoea and stress, male with the upper “A” teeth only
starting to grow, and had not yet been introduced to solids. Prior to bringing the baby to the post, we
took it for a radiology inspection at the PangkalanBun hospital From his teeth, we estimate he is around 7
months old, giving a birthday around July 2004.
We’ve therefore named him Julius.For the first month or so, Julius will be in
quarantine awaiting the results of his Tuberculosis and Hepatitis tests. In
addition to anemia and malnutrition, his faeces examination showed signs of
Strongylus; we are giving him worm tablets as well as iron supplements and
vitamins. His weight has increased 1
kilogram in the first 2 weeks. In his
first week, Julius appeared very afraid, frequently crying & refusing to be
parted from his caretaker, Ainun.
However, he has slowly improved, becoming less clingy and more
confident. We hope he will make good progress.
We are also very pleased to announce that the Jakarta
International School (JIS) has offered to sponsor Julius. Primarly students from Mr Pearce’s, Mrs
Julius’ and Ms Nystrom’s class at JIS arranged an “Orang-A-Walk” and raised
substantial funds as well as awareness about the plight of orangutans in
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Thank You,
Ms Nystrom &
Students!
In this period, we saw a recurrence of illegal logging around the Park. Late last year, the Indonesian President,
Bpk. Susilo Bambang Yudhonoyo (SBY, as he is popularly known) had visited the
Park, and it seemed to be peaceful for a while.
However early this year we have had incidences of people collecting
gembor bark and taking out wood illegally.
Recently, our staff accompanied the Forest Police when
they raided a logging operation near Pembuang Hulu. Beautiful logs of old meranti and ulin were
seized with the logs measuring between 30 cm to 55 cm in diameter.
Sadly, one of the youths had only recently been
released from jail but had resumed logging at the order of his father, who is
languishing in jail for illegal logging!
FNPF continue to support the Forest Police as far as
we are able, although being a small NGO our resources are limited. We deeply appreciate, however, how complex
the problems facing the Park are, and how important it is to have a strong and
consistent Forest Police force.
Currently, there are sixty men taking shifts to try to protect 415,040
hectares of rainforest, equipped with only 3 speedboats, a few small perahus,
no lifejackets sleeping bags or 2-way radios, and limited firefighting
equipment.
Last year, the Gibbon Foundation provided much-needed
funds to the Forest Police through FNPF.
This year, we invite any person or group who may wish to help the Forest
Police to please contact us. Your
support is greatly needed, and every little bit will help.
We commend the Forest Police for their fight against
logging, and we hope and pray the situation will improve.
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REFORESTATION PROGRAM
- GREEN & GROWING !
This period, we are very happy with the results of our
Reforestation Program. The new measures we have put in place are starting to
pay dividends; the in-field die-off rate has decreased significantly, and staff
are actively monitoring plant survival and undertaking in-ground
maintenance. We have also bedded down
the new nursery procedures including better soil media mix and seedling
collection practices, replaced tired soil in polybags and expanded our nursery
and acclimatisation facilities. We have
also resumed work at the peat swamp site after the clouded leopard scare, and
are doing extensive work preparing the site, ranging far and wide to find
appropriate swamp water ‘framework’ plants that can survive the challenging
field conditions.
At our Pesalat site, we now have around 30 species of
plants including rare and endangered species with no one species representing
more than 15% of stock. We are also on
target for 12,000 healthy 9-15 mth old seedlings to be planted by the rainy
season. We have planted and will
continue to add lots more fast-growing pioneer plants including new varieties
such as bamboo, idat and kopi layu to help create a better micro-climate
in-field for the slow-growing rainforest
trees to follow. In short, we
have grounds for optimism and hopefully, the good results will continue.
We wish to thank the
THANK YOU, TEAM!
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In this period, we are very pleased
to report that the Livestock Department has entrusted our vet, Drh Made
Marthady, to act as their representative to help dispense livestock medication
to outlying villages where FNPF has a
At Sungai Cabang village, the
Department provided vaccines and medication while Drh Made inspected and
treated 57 cows belonging to 20 villagers. Drh Made also continued to develop
the
At Sekonyer village, Drh Made
continues to encourage villagers to introduce better livestock practices
including sanitation, hygiene and better caging for poultry. Pleasingly, we are seeing some early adopters
especially among the women who have started to provide healthier conditions and
build more night appropriate cages for their livestock in a move towards a
free-range system. We have also
commenced talks with a nearby hotel to take free-range eggs. It is early days yet, but we hope the program
will be able to provide a healthy supplement to villagers’ income while
building their knowledge and confidence.
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We wish to thank the Department of Heritage
& Environment
For years, the Sekonyer Health Clinic has been in a
run-down condition, open to rain & stray creatures and without a resident
health professional. Under a DEH
program, FNPF had set aside funds to help restore the building in a move to
attract more practitioners. Thanks
however to the help of the local health and village authorities including
FNPF’s Community Organiser, the government undertook to totally rebuild the
clinic this year using government funds.
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The clinic then & now
The village now has a
beautiful new building, and has also negotiated with the health authorities to
have a midwife attend once a week. We
hope the good progress continues, and we congratulate the government for its efforts
to meet the needs of local villagers.
With the Health Clinic renovation proving unnecessary,
FNPF agreed with local villagers to put those funds toward restoring the homes
of four poor and elderly folk including a mentally-deficient man and an elderly
widow. FNPF would fund raw materials,
while villagers agreed to provide labour to help renovate the homes. Although
FNPF rarely support individuals, preferring to work with groups, in this case
we salute the villagers for their generosity of spirit and we wish the old folk
enjoyment in their renovated homes.
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Widow
Tiah’s house pre- and post-renovation
In this period, we were invited by the local Health
Authorities to assist with a potentially sensitive case. An elderly woman in her 60s, Puan Aminah, was
identified as having infectious ‘open’ Tuberculosis (TBC). We spoke to Puan Aminah’s family, arranged
for samples from close family members, and will help the Health Authorities
follow up on this and any other cases in the village.
Apart from our work in the
village, tuberculosis (TBC) is a zoonotic disease that can transfer between
humans and orangutans, and the presence of TBC in villages near the Park might
shed some light on the incidence of TBC among the Park’s semi-wild orangutans
as suggested by research carried out as long ago as the early 1990s.
We will continue to support Puan Aminah and her
family; we will also continue to discuss the possibility of medical research
into the wild and semi-wild orangutan population at
This period, we continue to support a small arts and
culture program at Sekonyer village. We
have found a “pencak silat” exponent from Kumai, who is willing to come and
teach this traditional martial art to young boys in the village every
week. The children have shown great
enthusiasm.
We have also found a highly respected “tirik”
traditional dance and music artiste in Kumai; however, we have had to put this
program on hold, as promised funds have been held back. Hopefully, the program will be able to resume
soon.
In this period, the Park
Authority completed building four extensions to the homes of villagers, who
will run these as homestays. The Regent and local dignitaries were invited to the
launch, and the village put on traditional performances of dance and “pencak
silat”, the traditional Melayu martial art.
Currently, the buildings are not
able to be rented out as they are as yet unfurnished. FNPF will coordinate with
the Park and with the village to ensure a support program to train villagers in
handling guests and to obtain health certification once the buildings are fully
up and running. Villagers have also
agreed in principle to a community benefit-sharing system, where the large
portion of income from the homestays will be put aside for repairs, maintenance
and for a Community Benefit Fund.
Unfortunately, due to delay in the receipt of promised
funds, this program has been put on hold.
We hope to be able to resume this program once funds become available.
CONSERVATION and EDUCATION
PROGRAM
Deeply serious discussions, mixed with laughter, games
and community work – such were the two Overnight Field Camps that FNPF ran this
period. We have planned for these camps
since last year, in an effort to pull together six different schools and try to
build some momentum to establish conservation clubs in local schools. In total, over thirty people attended the two
camps, and all expressed satisfaction with the outcome.
During the camps, students were led in performing
practical tasks such as preparing a herbarium, testing their sensory perception,
and asked to design a strategy for introducing conservation activities to their
school. The students each committed to
making a concerted effort to take at least a first step in establishing
conservation-related activites in their school.
We did not expect much; however we were pleasantly surprised when, true
to their word, three schools organised follow-up activities at their schools,
and invited FNPF to participate. The
activities included preparing a conservation information room, cleaning and
planting a herb garden, and running conservation activities for younger
schoolchildren. Several teachers were
highly supportive, and their enthusiasm and support has proved pivotal. FNPF has promised to help the schools
establish and maintain a regular schedule of conservation activities, and to
link the schools with relevant bodies such as the local Forest Department and
other government agencies.
Early in January, the
This period, six children
received class prizes and eleven represented the school at an inter-school event
at Teluk Bogam, courtesy of the DEH Australia funds.
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FNPF grieves with all who suffered during the tsunami that swept Aceh,
North Sumatra, Thailand,
FNPF also wish to express our grief and sorrow at the death of Lenny,
beloved wife of Pak Iwan Setiawan, Director of PILI and long-time friend and
supporter of FNPF. Lenny passed away on
Such is our
newsletter for the period. Thank You
Everyone.
Respectfully, FNPF staff and volunteers
