Cebus and Nicty

On May 22 and 23 PPSC rescued 3 Slow lorises (Nyctitebus Javanicus). Two are from Bandung. We were contacted by a student who had recently attended a study weekend here in Cikananga. A friend of his bought two slow lorises at the market, and he was wondering if these animals are protected; which they are. The friend was willing to give them to PPSC. On Saturday 22 May we went to Bandung where the boy handed over the two Slow lorises, Cebus and Nicty.
Their condition is reasonably good, but unfortunatly a few of their teeth have been pulled and cut off. This happens a lot with Slow lorises in order to prevent them biting!! Many times this brutal practice causes mouth infection.

They are now in quarantine and yesterday I sedated them to do a full body check, de-worming and TBC testing. I will repeat this in two weeks and If they are healthy then the plan is to release them here in Cikananga.

The other Slow Loris we got from the same owner as the macuaqes, Boss and Joko!! He called us to say that he had a Slow loris that was sick. We immediately went to Cisaat to rescue Monic, the Slow loris. She is in very bad condition; skinny, with poor fur and little appetite. She has a severe eye infection in her right eye, possibly due to her teeth being pulled! An infection from her mouth has travelled to her eye. At present, Monic is in PPSC clinic where I am treating her with antibiotics and extra care. When her condition improves, she will be sedated so that her teeth can be treated and I can test her for TBC. In the few days she has been here, she is already looking a little better.

Monic

Our macaques, Boss and Joko are sitting together in the Socialisation area, since we moved them there on May 12. For the first few days we caged them separately but next to each other so they could be in contact but not hurt each other. They were, from the beginning, very friendly to each other and had a lot of contact. So, after a few day we put them together in the cage. Immediately, they started grooming and playing and were soon the best of friends. They now live together in three interconnected cages – so they have plenty of space. This Friday we will pick up a female macaque from JAAN in Jakarta. She will go into quarantine where we will test her for diseases and all going well, we will introduce her to Boss and Joko.

Nessie the new otter

On May 13, a one year old Asian short clawed otter arrived at Cikananga.  Nessie is his name. Nessie has been fostered by Ruth since he was six weeks old. He was found on the road by security guards in a housing complex in South Jakarta. After contacting JAAN for help and information about fostering a baby otter, Ruth took care of Nessie until a suitable rescue centre could be found. At long last, and by a chance sighting on the internet, Ruth found Cikananga, where Merci and Lenci are both living.
Asian short claws are very much group animals and should not live without other otters. Nessie developed relationships with humans (Ruth and her family) and a dog and cat,which compensated somewhat for the lack of otters in his life. Now we are hoping that he can be introduced to Merci and Lenci. The socialisation process with these three otters is in progress now and it looks like we can soon put them together.
Over the time that Ruth looked after Nessie, she has been in contact with and joined the IUCN’s Otter Specialist Group, who, along with the International Otter Survival Fund (IOSF) have given advice and support in his care.
Short clawed otters are not yet protected in Indonesia so there is little local information regarding their welfare both in captivity and the wild.
Hopefully, this will change. Cikananga  gives home now to three shortclaw otters and both the IOSF and OSG are keen to forge a supportive relationship whereby the welfare of Cikananga’s otters and any future arrivals can be assured.

Otters Merci and Lency

body check

After a much waiting, we finally got permission from the forestry department to release our Reticulated Python (Python reticulates) and keeled Rat Snake (Ptyas carinatus) in Cikepuh national park, West Java.

Together with two members of the forestry department we left Cikananga on the afternoon of May 18 and drove to Cikepuh where we released the snakes the next morning. First we let our Rat snake free and he immediately went into the forest. The Python was a bit hesitant at first but eventually made his way out of the transport box.

We are so happy that we could finally release these snakes back to their natural habitat.

Two days before the release I did a final medical body check, de-wormed and fed them for the last time, to make sure they went healthy and with a full stomach back into the wild.

We are also hoping in the near future to release our Estuarine Crocodiles in Cikepuh. To be continued…

release phyton

On the last evening of David’s visit he caves a great donation to PPSC, where we are very thankful for; an Autoclave machine for in the animal clinic of Cikananga Wildlife Rescue Center. This tool is used to sterilize medical equipment, and has been on the wish list of Cikananga for a long time already. Now our vet can do operations again in the animal clinic. This was for a long time not possible, because we could not make our medical equipments sterile. But by the donation of the Autoclave machine we can do operation in PPSC again.
David and Stichting AAP; Thank you for your support, help and your belief in PPSC, we hope we can continuing a successful cooperation together.

Saturday the 14th of November 2009 we saved two gibbons from the hands of people who live in a little village two hours from Cikananga. In this area, unfortunately, a lot of gibbons are held by people who treat the gibbons poorly. A few years ago this area was still woody and a lot of wild animals were still living there, including the gibbon. Unfortunately huge parts of the forests were cut down and the parents of many baby gibbons were killed. The little baby gibbons were sold to people living in the surrounding villages. The gibbons we found are Dompoe, a five-year old female gibbon and the little two-year old baby Jollie. Little gibbon babies like Jollie should have constant care from their mother, but Jollie sadly never had this. Her owner had fastened her with a chain on a bamboo stick and had given her a little house where she could shelter. She was totally left to her fate. Luckily we were able to take these gibbons away from their horrible circumstances and hopefully we can offer them a good future again. We will introduce Dompoe and Jollie to each other and hopefully this will work out well and they can become buddies! At the moment they are not healthy at all: they are very thin and have a bad pelt, but with good nutrition with a lot of proteins they will hopefully be much stronger soon. If they are strong enough they will be brought to the Java gibbon centre in Bogor; more of our gibbons have been brought there. In this centre they will be socialized and they will learn how to take care of themselves when brought in nature. Eventually it is our goal to release them in the national park. Hopefully Dompoe and Jollie will be stronger soon!

In the beginning of 2009 I have written a letter to Stichting Aap with the question whether they would be interested to help Wanicare and PPSC by means of sponsoring or advice. Resit (PPSC Cikananga) and I were very happy to get the opportunity from Stichting AAP to talk about our project. We were delighted to hear that Stichting AAP decided to help us! They have given us a probationary period of six months where we have to show that PPSC can be a good and professional centre. At this moment we are working really hard to improve and after six months Stichting Aap will decide whether they want to have permanent cooperation with us. We are very happy with this opportunity and we will do everything that we can to show Stichting Aap that we can be a good, motivated and professional centre and that we are able to maintain this.