It is with great joy I write this to let you know that the sea turtle hatchery built at the Temboan project has proved to be successful in helping to protect sea turtle eggs and hatchlings. We hope with more supporters, more volunteers and more education, more turtles will be able to reach the sea.
We appreciate the kind support of Jonathan and Hye-Jin Crompton in Hong Kong and the work done on site by Willie, Harry Kaunang and members of the Masarang team.
Harry Kaunang, on the right, proudly standing beside the hatchery and showing the plaque with the dedication chosen by the sponsors Hye-Jin and Jonathan Crompton
Willie Smits at the site checking the progress of the hatchery at an early stage
Beach Patrol team members at the completed hatchery at Temboan Beach Project
A sign at the hatchery highlighting the need to protect sea turtles
Data from the sea turtle protection 2020-2022 can be seen at the Sea turtle Project Overview below:-
]]>
Thanks to our supporters that have donated to Masarang HK we were able, like last year, to send funds for the staff as well as the orangutans at the Sintang Orangutan Center in the heart of Borneo, to have a Christmas celebration. We also donated to the animals at Masarang’s Tasikoki wildlife rescue and education center and for the small Christmas gathering of the Masarang staff coming together in Tomohon. Both the Dayak people in the interior of Kalimantan and the people in the mountains of North Sulawesi are predominantly Christian and they celebrate Christmas as in many western countries. The staff really appreciated that even though they did not dare dream of it, they could gather in prayer and for a simple meal during these difficult pandemic days. On behalf of all of them as well as the animals a heartfelt thank you.
In the pictures below we can see some images of how the orangutans got interesting Christmas gifts from the staff. Seeing them testing and enjoying the many different Christmas themed treats was wonderful. Also have a look at this link
Above smiling faces of the Sintang Orangutan Center staff getting their Christmas packages and at the right the Masarang staff receiving their packages after the Christmas prayer.
On behalf of the Masarang HK Volunteer Team we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year.
Willie Smits
]]>The third Friday of March was designated as Endangered Species Day, which was yesterday, May 21st. Today has been labeled as World Biodiversity Day and tomorrow will be World Turtle Day. For many years already, through our work at Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue and Education Centre we have been involved with thousands of confiscated animals rescued from illegal trade as well as from people that kept them as ‘pets’. Sadly, right now even with the Covid crisis and despite the apparent decrease in deforestation, the trade in protected wildlife continues unabated. Masarang’s efforts to help endangered species is needed more than ever.
Speaking about biodiversity, Masarang has not only been protecting some remaining original forests in North Sulawesi, but also our new Temboan project is especially focused on restoring a huge amount of biodiversity in severely degraded terrain in a project of 450 hectares. The aims are amongst others to restore a biodiverse and valuable new forest, reintroduce rescued wildlife and protect sea turtles on the beach and their eggs as well as to protect and restore coral reefs along some three kilometers of beaches.
Regarding World Turtle Day, for many years we have been and still are running nightly patrols and operate a big turtle hatchery with Masarang at the Tulap Beach which was funded by students and staff at the Victoria Shanghai Academy in Hong Kong. We are pleased that two donors from Hong Kong, who have already supported us in the past, have now kindly donated funds to build an additional sea turtle egg hatchery at Temboan. Our beach hosts five of the world’s sea turtle species!
Perhaps that is the real message that Masarang stands for: Integration, not just focusing on one species or one project area but developing solutions that help long-term sustainability in a unified approach that benefits both nature and people. Masarang’s vision is to save nature through the empowerment of local people. We believe that every day of the year should be for endangered species, biodiversity and turtles. Not just these three days in May. In nature everything is connected and so should we be connected, with an integrated sustainable future for nature and people.
Willie Smits
May 22nd, 2021
This picture of part of Masarang’s Temboan project tells a thousand stories. Diversity: mangroves, nipah palms, lakes and sea, degraded lands, patches of good forest and burned areas, coral reefs in various condition, a leatherback turtle nesting beach and so much more. In the near future this area will support much more wildlife, protect nesting sea turtles, have richer corals, will support a more diverse plant community and provide more and better sustainable jobs for local people while sequestering vast amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. Temboan, a place for people to visit and volunteer, so they can believe and learn, a new home for many rescued animals. In short a place that gives hope that we can do better.
The online version of the magazine is available through this link.
We posted a letter written by Willie recently requesting any help you could offer to support the animals at Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue and Education Centre during this most difficult time for all. We would like to thank those that donated for their kindness and consideration. We sincerely appreciate the kind support we received in March from the following people. These donations have helped tremendously.
A Special Thank You to:-
Hye Jin and Jonathan Crompton – Your most generous HKD50,000 donation has made a huge difference!
Nate Tillery – Most kind!
Nigel Rawson – Your HKD 2,000.00 has been a big help!
After receiving your donations Masarang HK then matched your donations and included the wonderful support we received from this year’s Walkathon by the Jockey Club Sarah Roe School. In total we sent HKD 115,160.10 to the Masarang Foundation to support the food, care and medicine for all the animals at Tasikoki for April and May.
We also liaised with our friends at Orangutan Help Luxembourg (OHL), Judith, Jessy, Laurent and all the volunteers at OHL, who also kindly donated funds to Tasikoki to further help support the food for all the animals for April and May.
Thank You Very Much
HAPPY EASTER
We are all proud that the founder of the Masarang Foundation as well as the Sintang Orangutan Centre (SOC) and the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS), Dr Willie Smits, was honoured with a BAMBI award award on November 21st, in Germany.
Dr Willie Smits and Adrienne Watson Smits (Photo: Zimbio.com)
The BAMBI event was broadcast live and is awarded to those who are considered to ‘move us all’. The award highlights “the things that are important (in and for Germany), and the things that-from a Germany perspective- are important for the world as a whole”. Willie is honoured to receive the award in the category of ‘Our Earth’ and he is extremely grateful for all the support from Germany. With an audience of approximately 4 million, we all hope that the BAMBI event will highlight work being done by the projects and that Willie, the volunteers and supporters, not only in Germany but also around the world will receive even more support. We are very pleased that the German language Masarang website, created and filled with a treasure of professionally in German translated articles by Dr. Gertrud Schuster and presently hosted by volunteer Björn Steinmetz, got more than 27.000 hits in the day after the event!
Willie and I are most grateful to Mr Frank Elstner, who himself won a second BAMBI for his lifetime achievements as shown in the picture below. We are also very grateful to the publisher Dr. Hubert Burda, the award sponsor, and all those in Germany doing wonderful work to support Willie’s projects and Nature. During his acceptance speech Willie specifically mentiond several German groups such as Karlsruhe Zoo, Benni Over, Lebensraum Regenwald and BOS Germany.
Willie and Frank Elstner with their Bambi Awards
Another donation from Karlsruhe Zoo, handed over by Dr. Matthias Reinschmidt and Dr. Clemens Becker, for the Sintang Orangutan Centre in Kalimantan. On the right the wonderful Timo Deibl, also from Karlsruhe Zoo, who waited outside the Bambi event in minus degrees for hours until we were allowed to invite him in for his newsletter!
Together with Benni, Connie and Klaus Over. Benni proudly showing the cheque for
25.000 € that he raised to support the Temboan Masarang reforestation project.
Meeting our friends and long-term supporters from Lebensraum Regenwald before the Bambi Award ceremony
Great news from Tulap Sea Turtle Conservation Program! For the first time since the the sea turtle hatchery program began in April 2011, leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) eggs have hatched on this beach. Tulap is located in North Sulawesi about an hour’s drive south from the Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue and Education Centre and also one hour from the Masarang Foundation headquarters in Tomohon. This beach is a nesting site for all five species of sea turtle that are native to the region.
On September 2nd 2019, 95 leatherback hatchlings emerged from the Tulap beach sand. They had been monitored closely for two months to protect them from predators and poachers. Predators, such as monitor lizards, wild pigs and dogs, dig the eggs out of the hole and consume them. People also illegally dig out the eggs to consume or sell them.
Sea turtle females drag themselves on to a beach to lay eggs. They are extremely vulnerable at this time. After hauling herself out the water and onto the sand, the female digs out a nest with her flippers and deposits her eggs in the nest. She then covers them with sand and returns to the ocean. The eggs have no other protection. This is a very vulnerable time for the female as well as the eggs, which is why projects like the Tulap beach and the new developing Temboan beach project are very important for sea turtle protection.
The turtle hatchery at Tulap beach, supported by Island school in Hong Kong, and the poacher rehabilitation project supported by Morgan Stanley, Hong Kong, that started approximately 7 years ago have both been very important in establishing a safer environment for turtles on Tulap beach. More recently, the support from LUSH, in 2018-2019, has enabled further protection for these beaches and has resulted in even greater numbers of hatchlings returning to the sea at Tulap in 2018 and 2019.
This is great news for the project and for all!
The leatherback is the biggest sea turtle species. Globally, leatherback status according to IUCN is listed as Vulnerable, but many subpopulations (such as in the Pacific and Southwest Atlantic) are Critically Endangered. Leatherback sea turtles can grow to around 2 m long and weigh up to 900 kg. Unlike other species of sea turtles, the leatherback’s shell is not hard, but rather leathery and flexible.
Soon after hatchlings emerge from the eggs, they crawl out the sand, usually at night to avoid predators and head to the sea. This is a very difficult and dangerous time for the hatchlings, but the hatchery at Tulap as well as the work of the staff at the beach, the hatchlings have a much greater chance of making it to the sea. A new hatchery needs to be built at Tulap as the concrete is starting to crumble and a new design will enable to journey of the hatchlings to be even easier. The Foundation is eager to find support for this construction. Additionally, additional specialist equipment is needed at both Temboan and Tulap beach.
Please consider offering support for this most worthwhile cause.
Photos: Masarang Foundation Team
]]>Our annual school wide RAD Day inspired by Tell Someone Who Cares was a great success again. We raised over HK $15,000 to help support the young orangutans in the new Jerora Forest School.
At the Secondary Swimming Gala Day, the Masarang Club raised awareness and funds for the club. The students’ sold coconut water and healthy snacks for the athletes and spectators. The students also collected money for the year-long Change for Change campaign.
At our PTA Family Fun Day event the Eco-warrior club sold palm sugar and traditional Dayak weavings. In addition, students created posters to raise awareness to the school community about Masarang HK’s amazing work and the destruction brought upon the rainforest by palm oil production. The secondary stall also sold homemade palm sugar bobo tea and biscuits.
During the ESF Green week, Year 5 Eco-warriors went and gave an educational presentation about palm oil. It was a great experience for both the presenters and the audience.
The 3rd Annual Earth Day Biodiversity Walk‘n’Talk took place in late April. We were so lucky to again have Masarang hk committee member and ecologist, Sharne McMillian, lead the walk to educate students and parents about the importance of conserving biodiversity in Hong Kong.
The secondary club held a raffle of two silver pendants, donated by a parent, and the winners were Michael Yang (Y6) and Annabella Deayton (Y5).
Over the Easter Holiday four teachers took a trip to Borneo to see all the great work Masarang and the Sintang Orangutan Centre are doing for the animals and the local community. Teachers visited the new forest school, ran lessons at local primary schools, and put on a professional development session for local teachers. They also took donations collected by some secondary school students at VSA.
We look forward to our continued support of Masarang HK in the coming school year.
Have a lovely summer everyone!
]]>