Malaysia and Thailand Winter 2008-9

Jan 6 2009

"Hello Mr. Ooo, how are you today?" "Oh, Zak, you are a naughty girl!" Emma is giving us our initial tour of the Wildlife Rescue Center where we will spend the next four weeks helping to care for more than 300 animals. That's right. The rescue center, started by a Dutchman, Edwin Wiek, in May 2001 is much larger and there are more animals and more varieties of animals than we had dreamed of. It is truly a mini-zoo, run by a small permanent staff, Thai helpers and up to 30 plus volunteers; the number varies day by day.

Emma the naughty gibbon

Wat Kao Look Chang

The village of Kao Look Chang is built next to a large temple complex, Wat Kao Look Chang, and the Wildlife center is mainly on the temple grounds. There is a volunteer dining and meeting center facing a small lake, an education center, staff housing, small buildings where food for the animals is stored and prepared and of course animal enclosures; lots of them.

Housing for volunteers is in small four bed dorms or private rooms. Ray and I have a double room with attached toilet. The windows are screened and have glass jalousies and there is a fan. The temperature drops nicely at night and the mosquitoes are not a big problem. The toilet is bucket flushed, the shower is cold water and there is no sink, just a hose, but we are quite comfortable. Emma, an English girl who arrived as a volunteer more than a year ago and stayed, and two other permanent staff we have not met live in individual houses. The Thai staff have their own little village within the compound and the founder, Edwin and his wife have their own house.

Visitors occasionally turn up at the center but pre-arrangement is usually necessary. Casual visits are not actively sought as the emphasis is more on care and rehabilitation of the animals.

The volunteers, mostly European at this date, are here from one week to several months. Several people are on return visits, they like it so much. One man is here for his sixth visit. We all eat in the common dining area. We make our own breakfast from food provided or supplemented with our purchases from the village. Lunch and dinner are prepared by the Thai staff and served buffet style. There are several vegetarians and Vegans in the group so there are always options to suit their diets. Judging by the meals we have had so far, we have a good variety of very tasty food, with less spice than the Thais make for themselves.

There is a big white board where Emma writes up the assignments for the day. These are rotated amongst the volunteers so that we get a chance to work with nearly all the animals at the center. The exception is the elephants. Yes there are elephants, four adults and two babies. The volunteers for the elephants work separately but live with the rest of us. There are Thai elephant handlers so the elephant volunteers do not need any special skills, just a greater interest in pachyderms.

Volunteer Center

Pauline and Ray prepare food for the animals

There is a lot to accomplish every day and our day starts at 6:30 AM, before breakfast. That is when food for the animals is prepared and the animals are fed. Only after the animals are fed do we get breakfast, and even that may be delayed if we are assigned an additional task, such as cleaning out water buckets for the animals. The rest of the morning will probably entail at least one more task and then after lunch the second meal of the day must be prepared for the animals. In between the enclosures and work spaces are cleaned and our own quarters kept tidy. We can pay to have our laundry done but undies and socks have to be washed personally. These items of clothing are considered too personal for a stranger to wash. We were also instructed not to hang these sensitive items outdoors either! As I said, there is a lot to do.

I mentioned there were lots of animals. They all have names too. This list are the stats as of January 5, 2009, according to Emma:
6 varieties of Gibbons (90 plus in all)
5 varieties of Macaques (120 plus),
8 nocturnal Lorises,
Common and Masked Civets,
3 Langur monkeys,
1 Binturong,
9 Sun Bears,
12 Asian Black Bears,
wild pigs,
Wild spotted leopard cats,
1 tiger,
2 otters,
1 crocodile,
1 Asiatic golden jackal,
1 Muncjac deer,
turtles,
1 porcupine,
1 Malaysian Squirrel,
3 iguanas,
1 small white beach pony,
19 dogs,
2 white bellied sea eagles,
3 Brahmin Kites,
a pair of Love Birds,
1 Cockatoo,
2 Great and 1 Oriental Pied Hornbill.

Most of the animals sad stories of their earlier life before being brought to the Center. Many were mistreated or kept in tiny cages. The dogs have either just turned up or were abandoned by their previous owners at the Temple, which is the custom in Thailand. They are spayed and cared for lovingly by the volunteers.

The center aims to rehabilitate the animals to the point at which they could be released to the wild. The reality is that for many of them this will be impossible. They cannot learn enough survival skills and so will be kept in captivity, however nice the environment may be.

Our first day at the center was rather relaxed. We had the grand tour and if we were feeling up to it, we could assist in the feeding and cleanup of the bears in the afternoon. It wasn't difficult work cutting up and portioning food for the bears and wheeling it over to the bear enclosures. I also helped to clean up and hose down one of the bear enclosures while the bears waited patiently in an anteroom.

A sun bear finds his breakfast

Swim time for the elephant babies

Later in the afternoon Ray and I were invited to watch the two baby elephants have their daily bath in a dammed up end of the lake. The elephants needed no encouragement to climb into the water. They frolicked and played like a pair of puppies, first one and then the other asserting dominance, until finally they were tired and ambled out of the pool and back to their night resting spot.

As you can imagine, it was an early night for both of us. I can't remember when I last fell asleep at 9 PM but 6 AM comes early!

Monday was the start of another work cycle so Ray and I were assigned to primates. Twice a day we worked for one hour with two other volunteers, washing, cutting and portioning meals for the gibbons. Gibbons are apes and as such have stomachs much like a human. They cannot tolerate dirty or buggy food drink. Anything not cooked must be soaked for 10 minutes in Potassium Permanganate to get rid of bugs. Water must be filtered.

All the food has to soak in disinfection solution

Gibbons graduate to Island home

The last stage before being released to the wild for Gibbons is a home on one of seven small islands in the lake bordering the center. Since the Gibbons do not swim, the islands are a safe but freer environment. Food for these Gibbons is prepared by us and taken to the islands by the Thai staff. All other Gibbons are fed by the volunteers. Ray and an experienced volunteer, Paulina, fed the Gibbons in the main area. Lonnie, a Danish girl who has been here several weeks, was my mentor. The cages in the main area are all surrounded by trees but an even more realistic area has been constructed. Large enclosures are set along pathways in a forest next to the main enclosures. This is the Gibbons’ last home before being released to the islands.

Tuesday was more of the same for both of us. We still got lost finding our way around the compound but we were gradually learning the routine and who gets what. I am impressed by the great attitude of the staff and volunteers here. Everyone goes the extra mile doing their jobs and willingly helps those of us who are new. We look forward to the time we feel comfortable enough to become mentors to the next batch of new arrivals.