Masarang HK Society Limited 青山綠水協會有限公司

This week Masarang’s Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue and Education Centre received almost one hundred protected animals from the Philippines. They were confiscated from the illegal trade and in accordance with CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) returned to their country of origin. Our wildlife rescue centre is located close to the harbor of Bitung in North Sulawesi, which is one of the main smuggling routes for Indonesian wildlife besides Jakarta and Medan in North Sumatra. If we would not have centres like Tasikoki it would be very difficult to do law enforcement and bring back smuggled animals. Beneath here is the list of animals we received:
1. Large Fig Parrot (Psittaculirostris desmarestii) = 1
2. Black Lory (Chalcopsitta atra) = 3
3. Coconut Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus) = 1
4. Black Palm Cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus) = 12
5. Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) = 40
6. Red Lory (Eos bornea) = 3
7. Papuan Hornbill (Rhytceros plicatus) = 7
8. Pesquet`s Parrot (Psittrichas fulgidus) = 1
9. Black-capped Lory (Lorius lory) = 11
10. Eclectus Parrot (Eclectus rotatus) = 8
11. Rainer Gunther’s Monitor (Varanus rainerguentheri) = 2
12. Blue Tree Monitor (Varanus macraei) = 1
13. Northern Cassowary (Casuarius unappendiculatus) = 3
14. Pinon`s Imperial Pigeon (Ducula pinon) = 1
15. Long-crested Myna (Basilornis corythaix) = 1
16. White-stripped Wallaby (Dorcopsis hogeni) = 4

Many of those animals come from the island of Papua. First of all we have to take care of them in the quarantine section of Tasikoki after the several days transport over sea from Davao in the Philippines. Then the work to bring them back to their natural habitat really begins. There are very few projects that can deal with these animals in Papua and we already have many Papuan birds in Tasikoki from earlier national confiscations.

Masarang Foundation has acquired the Salimburung Island in North Sulawesi where we will release a lot of the birds that are no longer capable to fly because their wing feathers had been clipped by the traders. On the 6 hectare large island that is free from rats and predators they hopefully can breed and their offspring returned to the wild in the future.

The Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue and Education Centre has an official cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry that is responsible for Indonesia’s wildlife. This is what director general Rasio Sani for law enforcement had to say with special mention of Masarang’s Tasikoki Centre in their official publication:

“Keberhasilan repatriasi ini atas kerjasama banyak pihak seperti Ditjen KSDAE KLHK, Kementerian Luar Negeri melalui perwakilan RI di Jenewa, Manila, Davao serta Direktorat Astara, Kementerian Keuangan (Ditjen Bea Cukai), Kementerian Pertanian (Badan Karantina Hewan dan Direktorat kesehatan Hewan), Pemerintah Kota Bitung, dan Yayasan Masarang (PPS Tasikoki)”

Beneath are some pictures of our staff preparing, receiving and taking care of the new arrivals from The Philippines:

Preparations for the upcoming arrival of the 91 animals on their way from The Philippines. Cages are sterilized, enrichment materials installed, palm leaves collected to reduce visibility between the enclosures to reduce stress, wild food collection, etc., etc.

The boat that brought the smuggled animals back to Indonesia. The many cages with animals were under a big cloth to protect them from the heat of the sun during the several day journey to the Bitung harbour in North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

A picture of our Tasikoki staff together with the local forestry staff in front of the boat. On the left is the animal rescue manager Billy Lolowang and in black is our veterinarian doctor Anissa.

It takes a lot of work to fulfil all procedures of health, quarantine, import documents, etc.

Signing the official handover of the animals that have just been unloaded from the boat.

Finally the animals are on their way to Tasikoki. Because of the condition of Covid-19 and the wellbeing of the animals the official handover ceremony was limited to an unusual short 15 minutes only. Two birds however did suffer serious stress and one of those has died in the meantime.

Arrival of the convoy at Masarang’s Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue and Education Centre. The mist you see is to sterilize the cars so as not to bring in any diseases to the hundreds of rare animals in the centre.

Here a Papuan Wallaby, one of the 91 animals returned, entering his new temporary home with lots of green hiding places prepared by our staff.

 
Below some pictures of some of the many different animals that we are now taking care of in their new temporary facilities.

Times remain very difficult. Thanks to great efforts from our supporters from Masarang Hong Kong we were able to continue to feed and care for the 395 precious confiscated animals at the Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue and Education Centre. Our friends and partners at Orangutanhilfe Luxembourg have also been contributing to this effort. The attached picture report by Billy Lolowang, shows the activities of the last two weeks at Tasikoki where everyone had to chip in to grow food, feed the animals and clean the cages etc. In the absence of volunteers these tasks were also filled in by the kitchen staff, visitor and education staff as well as security personnel. This was all part of  the aim to still provide the highest possible standard of care for the animals under the difficult pandemic circumstances.

There has also been some other important news for Tasikoki. Firstly, the Ministry of Forestry has now allowed releases of wildlife again and Masarang Foundation has worked hard to prepare two locations for releases of groups of Sulawesi Macaques. They will still be monitored for several months, which places an additional financial responsibility on the organisation, but the ultimate aim of Tasikoki is to rescue, rehabilitate and release.  Secondly, in July the Ministry of Forestry will also bring another 99 confiscated animals, mostly parrots, from the Philippines to North Sulawesi to be placed in the Tasikoki facilities.  Although we are very pleased that these rescued animals are being returned to Indonesia and may ultimately be released to the wild, this represents another challenge in terms of workload and especially operational costs. We hope that we will be able to raise enough support to get the centre through these difficult times and hope you will continue to support our efforts to help us, help them.

Thank you very much

Masarang Hong Kong team.

Valenry, collecting browse from different part of plants such as leaves, buds, and flower for the primates every morning

Morning browse for Hanuman the long tailed macaque, he picked the flower first.

Picky monkey with their morning browse, but leaves are part of their diet in the wild.

Windi, put the enrichment made from Pineapple crown for the black caped lories.

Baredeyed Cockatoos, enjoying their enrichment. This enrichment makes them busy in the afternoon.

Meywan, the primate keeper, ready to distribute the daily food for primates centre

Handry, cleaning the birds enclosure by collecting the old food and sweep the poop and left over food from the floor

Noldy and Handry , collecting bamboo to put in the primates socialization enclosure as platform to move

An injured macaques got attacked by the other macaques in the group. The vet team had sutured 10cm open wound on his arm.

Isman, the alpha male in the bachelor group. He had a role to protect the group and maintain the hierarchy in the

We distribute the food from the top enclosure to stimulate this kind of behaviour, the monkey acrobatic skill when they fora gin g for food.

Juvenile and lower rank monkey are foraging the food that fallen on the ground

New renovated hatchery in Tulap. From January to June 2020, we had rescued 75 sea turtle nests with total 8253 eggs. About 51% of this eggs already hatch.

The Masarang Sea turtles ranger team in Tulap

Pineapples cluster that are plant by the HK International schools in Tulap . Now we had harvest this pineapples to help reduce the food cost for the animals in Tasikoki

Some of the pineapples we collected from Tulap for the animals food in Tasikoki

Recently rescued protected animals, confiscated by the BKSDA (Conservation & Natural Resources Dept.); 2 Black caped lorry ( Lorius lory ), White cockatoos Cacatua alba ), and Nankeen night heron Nycticorax caledonicus

Annisa (vet), open the basket where the smuggler kept 2 Black caped lorry

One of the Black caped lorry just rescued. This photo taken inside the birds quarantine.

The basket used to kept two Black caped lorry just rescued, one of the are being tied to this unopened Fanta

Annisa (vet) and Nius (birds keeper), doing health check for the new rescued birds

Fahmi (vet) and Handry (keeper), change the bandage for Tayo ” the Heck’s macaques that are rescued in January. He injury himself while in quarantine

Nankeen night heron ( Nycticorax caledonicus ) are protected species in Indonesia. This one is newly rescued, we still stabilize this bird from it’s stress. Soon we will rel eased it in Tasikoki mangrove.

Windi (edu officer) collecting the Jungle salad (young leaves, flower buds, young shoot) for the primate’s breakfast

Marlene and Vicki the two Javan Langur in Tasikoki , enjoying their breakfast that just harvested from Tasikoki’s forest

Demi, the Moor Macaques (Macaca maura ) enjoying her breakfast

Valenry (liason officer) making enrichment from watermelon for the bears

Tante Siska , from kitchen and house keeping department, are helping also the keeper team to preparing the food for the animals

Tante Roos , the coordinator of Kitchen and house keeping department, helping the garden and security team to kept Tasikoki neat even there is no guest

Brando, birds keeper, distribute the food in the big aviary

The left over food and ‘poop’ from the bird aviary, are collected and dump in the composting pit to be use as fertilizer

Robbi (behavior & ecology staff) and Solikhin consulting and update the plan for release macaques in Mt. Ambang to the head of the Bongkudai district (East Bolaangmongondow

The recent condition of the soft release cages in Mt. Ambang . Now, we got the permission to continue the release process that are being postponed because of Covid 19

Annisa (vet) and Nius doing regular check and body condition for the cockatoos

Fahmi (vet), Annisa (vet), and Nius ; doing regular health check for the cockatoos. They check for the flight feather, weight, and give deworming

Annisa (vet) and Noldy , change the bandage of the injury Heck’s macaques

dr. Annisa handing out the enrichment for the primates

James, primate keeper, feeding the macaques from the top of socialization enclosure

Noldy , keeper coordinator, washing the cucumber before serving it to the animals

Rian, primate keeper, cutting the fruits and vegetables for the primates

Jeruk, the critically endangered Citron crested cockatoo ( Cacatua sulphurea citrinocristata ), looks happy with the keeper cleaning his enclosure

Crocodile feeding time, every 2 weeks we feeding our large size crocodiles with alive chicken

Robbi, observing the social interaction of the Macaca nigra that will be released back to the wild

Riri the Heck’s macaques ( Macaca hecki ) and her new born baby, Rhasin

Two curious Yaki Macaca nigra ) with their breakfast

Robi, the bear cuscus Ailurops ursinus ) roaming around in his newly greenerized enclosure (environmental enrichment).

Daily feeding for the deer, every day our keeper goes out to collect the browse, so the deer get additional fresh leaves

Not only the deer who got browse, the primates also got it as additional to the fruits they got as their food.

With a number of critical issues affecting our World at this time, we hope you will be pleased to hear about the recent improvements on Tulap turtle beach. These improvements have helped thousands of turtle hatchlings make it to the sea safely and offered additional protection for the turtles that come to the beach.

Baby turtle on Tulap beach

Our recent sponsored improvement work started just before any international awareness of the pandemic crisis, so it is not quite finished because of the lockdown in Indonesia.
We look forward to it being completed soon.

Thank you for your support and

Happy World Turtle Day!

Leatherback hatchlings at Tulap beach in 2019

Special thanks go to the hard work of the Victoria Shanghai Academy (VSA) Secondary Masarang Club, led by teacher Karin Samuel, the school community of the Sarah Roe Jockey Club School, as well as donors directly to Masarang HK. Without you, this support would not have been possible. Thank You!

Latest Improvements

1. New Upgraded Hatchery

Erik, Masarang Foundation CEO, wearing a mask, with some of the Tulap Beach Team and the VSA sponsored hatchery

For over 7 years, the original sea turtle hatchery at Tulap beach, supported by Island School, Hong Kong, has protected tens of thousands of sea turtle eggs and hatchlings. However, wear and tear resulted in the need to build a new hatchery. The VSA students raised funds and sponsored the new hatchery, which was completed just before the lockdown.
The new hatchery has been keeping eggs safe from poachers and predators for three months already and has given the hatchlings the best start they could possibly have!

The students from the VSA and other HK schools have been visiting this beach during a CAS trips for many years and sincerely appreciate the joy of seeing the turtles make it to the sea from the hatchery. https://masarang.hk/2018/06/26/vsa-students-cas-trip-to-tasikoki-sun-sea-sugar-sweat-and-super-support-and-baby-sea-turtles/

2a. Tulap Multifunctional Resource Centre and Coastal Erosion Protection

Masarang HK has been able to sponsor the building of a Multifunctional Resource Centre on the beach, with all building work led by Masarang team members; Mr Erik Kaunang, CEO of Masarang Foundation and Mr Billy Motulo. This will enable students, staff, volunteers and visitors to have a base from which to carry out important activities such as: patrols, briefings and educational activities.

Multifunctional Resource Centre at Tulap

2b. Beach Wall

Additionally, to protect the beach and the hatchery from coastal erosion, we sponsored the building of a beach wall that was urgently needed because the small river flowing to the Tulap beach had changed direction and threatened to flush away the foundations of the hatchery and impact the turtle nesting areas. Further work will need to be carried out, but the work completed has proven very effective in keeping the hatchery safe.

3. Fresh Water Pipe

The JCSRS community donated funds from their annual walkathon to also provide the funds necessary to support the building of a fresh- water pipe to the beach for the team, visitors, volunteers and educational visits and members of the local community who have limited access to fresh water.

The JCSRS students enjoy hearing about the animals at Tasikoki during their annual talk and especially love seeing images of the baby turtles emerging safely from their nests.
https://masarang.hk/2020/03/12/another-year-of-generous-support-from-jockey-club-sarah-roe-school-community/

JCSRS Teachers and Students at the 2019 Walkathon

Please consider sponsoring additional patrols of the beach during peak nesting times

A team from the local community is working with the Foundation to protect the area.
However, if groups of poachers come to the beach armed, it is necessary to ask the local police and army to assist in enforcing the law. This requires a cost of IDR 200,000 (approx. HKD 110) for two enforcement officers a night, though they only need to visit 2-3 times a week. These officers have already captured a persistent poacher, who received a prison sentence for breaking the law. We are very grateful for this involvement and assistance but do need help to fund this additional protection.

Endangered Sea Turtles Still Need Our Help. For HKD880 a month (June-November), you can make a big difference to their survival on Tulap beach.

We hope any of you who wish to support the protection of five species of sea turtles consider sponsoring additional patrols.

Cost of additional patrols per month during nesting season:
IDR 200,000 x2 (1 week) = IDR 400,000 x 4 (1 month) = IDR 1,600,000/month (approx. HKD 880).

Thank you!

Masarang HK team