Posted by: Admin | October 22, 2019
Link to latest Masarang Foundation Newsletter August 2019
Posted in International, Supporting, Tasikoki Project
Posted by: Admin | October 17, 2019
A New Sustainable Phase for Tomohon’s Masarang Foundation Office
Very recently we finished building a simple restaurant space at out Masarang office compound in Tomohon. It is right next to our amphitheatre. Billy Motolu was made manager of the project and in a short time, with our own timber, palm fibres, bamboo and palm leaves he constructed a beautiful facility. He also made most of the furniture himself from trees that Masarang had planted and that needed to be thinned out. 
In addition, he started a coffee shop in the amphitheatre, and we reached an agreement with the city government of Tomohon to develop our site as a tourism site. After all there is the amphitheatre with spectacular views over the valley of Kayawu and the sugar palm forests above it that protect the water supply of the rice fields. Also, there are many so-called “warugas”, very old stone graves on the site that are being protected. A few weeks ago, the mayor of Tomohon, Drs Jemmy Eman, seen in the picture here, came to open our new restaurant.
Since that event many people became interested in visiting Masarang, which gives us the great opportunity to explain about Masarang’s work and to educate people about what we all can do for our planet. Beneath are some pictures that show the latest developments that will contribute to both the name recognition and income for more of Masarang’s good work.
One of three daily buses of Chinese tourists that are now visiting our amphitheatre
The visitors love taking pictures at our location
At the restaurant the visitors eat traditional food the traditional way, on banana leaves. Some of the food was cooked in bamboo. They really love the traditional experience
Our amphitheatre is now also more often booked for special events like weddings, meetings and conferences. Again, this helps Masarang in various ways, including of course, in the funding we need
The view of the beautifully lit entrance to the amphitheatre
Posted in Hong Kong, International
Posted by: Admin | October 5, 2019
Happy World Animal Day
“Humankind must learn to understand that the life of an animal is in no way less precious than our own.”
– Paul Oxton
“Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.”
– Albert Einstein
“If we’re destroying our trees and destroying our environment and hurting animals and hurting one another and all that stuff, there’s got to be a very powerful energy to fight that. I think we need more love in the world.’’
– Ellen De Generes.
“Nature knows best. We have to learn from her before we lose the results of billions of years of evolution as a result of human short-sightedness.”
– Dr. Willie Smits
The Masarang Foundation through its Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue Center and many other animal conservation activities offers hope to many beings in need. We would not be able to do so without the support of caring individuals that dedicate time and means to our cause. Thank You on behalf of the animal beings we support!
Posted in Hong Kong, International, Masarang Club, Supporting
Posted by: Admin | September 30, 2019
Pioneering Pangolin Protection
A few years ago, nobody would ever have suspected that one of the biggest icons of wildlife conservation would be a small, obscure, scaly anteater. Back then, few people outside of conservation circles would have even known about pangolins, much less of the heavy poaching of them for the Chinese medicine trade.
Pangolin: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manis_pentadactyla_(29054818144).jpg
Nowadays however, the plight of the pangolin has been well publicised and while it’s probably too early to say whether it has come in time to save it, this increased awareness has certainly spurred much more concerted conservation action from NGOs and researchers, one of whom works in one of the last places one might expect pangolins to be: Hong Kong.
Pangolin scales: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pangolin_scale_burn_in_Cameroon._Credit-_Linh_Nguyen_Ngoc_Bao_-_MENTOR-POP_(4)_(32956129875).jpg
This SCMP article highlights the extremely perilous situation that pangolins are facing.
“China’s pangolin population has dropped over 90 per cent from the 1960s to 2004 due to poaching…The Chinese pangolin has been “commercially extinct” since 1995, researchers say.”
Originally from Chicago, Anna Goldman stumbled into pangolin conservation almost by accident. Initially her main interest had been in insects, but she developed an unexpected love for mammals when she was offered a job processing their bodies for museum collections. So when she started a PhD at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), she was keen for it to focus on the interactions between these two animal groups.
“I started trying to look at mammal and insect interactions, competition pressures, any way that I could put these two together” she says.
She eventually found that mix when she chose to focus on the effect of hill fires on ant populations in Hong Kong, which also allowed the possibility to study the food resources and local distribution of the Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), as well as the effects of habitat disturbance on its main prey. Such ecological insights could potentially prove vital for the conservation of this critically endangered species in a place where encroachment of development into protected country parks is a constant threat.
For the time being however, much of this ecological knowledge remains untapped as research on Chinese pangolin ecology has historically been very limited and Anna’s PhD is still in a very early stage. Nonetheless, what she has discovered so far has put things on a promising track.
“We have identified pangolin burrows […] and because of this knowledge, we can now conduct burrow transect surveys to try to estimate their locations across Hong Kong and also general burrow density.”
Burrow density is important as it can be used to indicate pangolin density, and although the exact numbers have yet to materialise, there are reasons to be optimistic about the state of Hong Kong’s pangolin population.
Anna Goldman
“In terms of places within the distribution of the Chinese pangolin, Hong Kong populations are probably doing better” says Dr Timothy Bonebrake, an associate professor at HKU and Anna’s supervisor. “One of the things that Hong Kong has to its advantage is the number and size of its country parks. And because these country parks are well protected, there’s a reasonable assumption that there are pangolins that are persisting in these areas.”
So what does this have to do with Masarang HK?
Masarang HK committee were keen to assist in a conservation project for native mammals in Hong Kong. When they learned of this pangolin project they donated a generous sum of money for up-to-date camera traps that send any videos or photos they take to a mobile phone. This allows Anna to know about pangolin movements in real time and provides previously hard-to-get information on a whole range of issues from burrow usage and re-usage to pangolin behaviours. These new camera traps also provide much better images than the ones she had been previously using.
It still remains to be seen what she will find, but Anna for one has high hopes for the conservation applicability of her project.
Pangolin Camera Trap Image in HK
“Hopefully we can share this data with the Hong Kong government and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) and aid in the conservation and future persistence of Hong Kong pangolins.”
We are proud to support this project and wish Anna and Dr Bonebrake every success in their research.
Please Donate What You Can, When You Can.
Masarang HK Team
Posted in Hong Kong, International, Masarang Club, Supporting
Posted by: Wisnu | September 14, 2019
Leatherback Sea Turtle Eggs Hatch for the first time at Tulap Beach Sea Turtle Program
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
Posted in Uncategorized
Posted by: Admin | August 26, 2019
Remembering Liesbeth van der Burgt
Liesbeth van der Burgt, founder of the Weesaapjes Foundation, holding the orangutan calendar of the Masarang Hong Kong Society
Liesje is the daughter of Tanjung and Mamat. Both of these orangutan parents had a terrible past with unimaginable suffering forever engraved in their memories. Mamat, the father, arrived in a state of virtually complete paralysis due to years of malnutrition and was not expected to live through the first night when he arrived at the Sintang Orangutan Center. But thanks to our dedicated vets and the help of a team of volunteer physiotherapists he did recover to such a level that he can now climb trees again and actually fathered a baby (through the bars of their separate enclosures!) with Tanjung, the other rescued orphan orangutan. We named their daughter Liesje, after Liesbeth van der Burgt, the founder of Weesaapjes, an organization dedicated to helping primate orphans. In this way we wanted to honor Liesbeth and those who greatly helped our orangutan center through her.
Liesbeth helping the keepers with the enrichment for the orangutans at Sintang Orangutan Center
Liesbeth was a staunch supporter of our work in West Kalimantan and volunteered with us in Sintang, in the heart of Borneo, working on enrichment for the orangutans and special care of orphaned gibbons too. Liesbeth passed away on August 24th, 2016, and before her death asked her close friend Ingrid van der Locht, to take over the reins of her foundation. Ingrid, supported by Liesbeth’s friends, did so but being full time occupied could not realistically continue that work with the vigour and passion that Liesbeth was so well known for. A realistic approach had to be taken and Weesaapjes was gradually closed down over the last three years with the last newsletter coming out in August 2019, three years after Liesbeth’s passing. That moment has arrived now.
Weesaapjes has sponsored the Lies clinic for orangutans in West Kalimantan in the Jerora facility of the Sintang Orangutan Center. It is located in the middle of the compound, an area of natural forest dedicated as an orangutan forest school.
The center is also an environmental education center where local groups can visit the organic garden, the traditional medicinal plant collection and learn about sustainable agriculture.
In a few weeks Liesbeth’s friends are coming over to witness Tanjung and her baby return to the virgin rainforest of Borneo in the Betung Kerihun National Park. Mamat will unfortunately not join them. He is permanently handicapped in his movements and eye sight after six years of malnutrition prior to coming to the Sintang Orangutan Center. Due to his special needs he is unlikely to survive in the wild and will have to live out his life in a sanctuary.
We hope that the supporters of Weesaapjes and Liesbeth will continue to help the orangutans that she also helped. Please be aware that we will continue to report on the project and the orangutans through the website and newsletter of Orangutan Rescue from The Netherlands and the Sintang Orangutan Center website.
Fond memories of the breakfast table at Father Jacques’ at the Sintang Orangutan Center. On the left Willie’s wife Adrienne Watson, founder of Masarang Hong Kong, and dear friend of Liesbeth van der Burgt who is sitting on the far right in the above picture. Father Jacques Maessen serving his volunteer guests.
Posted by: Admin | August 19, 2019
World Orangutan Day
Please help to support the care of the orangutans at the Sintang Orangutan Centre.
The team at SOC are doing an amazing job and they also deserve a mention for their love of orangutans, their dedicated care as well as for the physical and emotional difficulties they face.
This little baby was rescued a couple of weeks ago and she needs all the help that the team can offer. With your support and the support of so many kind donors around the world we can make a difference to her life and to the lives of so many of these special beings.
Please think of orangutans today and do whatever you can to help these critically endangered beings survive.
Thank you.
Masarang hk Team
For exactly 30 years orangutans have been my most special friends. As a former ‘special’ child, animals always were my closest friends. I could speak about the role of orangutans in preserving biodiversity as gardeners of the rain forest and give lots of other reasons why their forest should not be destroyed or list the reasons for the problems they are facing as well as what we might do to help them. However, people can read about that on so many websites and in articles already.
For me personally what counts most is my deep connection with what I cannot call anything else but their souls. They understand so much more than people realize. And their suffering is as real as that of so many human victims of tragedy. The ability of those orphans in our care to forgive us humans and trust us again after the trauma of their mother’s murder at our hands is hard to imagine. And the friendship, the empathy, yes the love they can have for each other and for some of us humans is not different from us either.
I have seen orangutan mothers carrying their stillborn baby for days and their eyes showing their pain, crying without tears. I have received pieces of art they made especially for me, to show me in human ways their friendship after years of not meeting. I was trusted to hold their newborn baby out there in the jungle, not wanting it, but having them pushed in my arms to hold by the mothers. I saw how a group of orangutans spotted a small down syndrome boy and how all came down from their tree and looked the boy in his eyes and hugged him, his parents crying with joy witnessing this. Once you experience such things they stay forever in your hearts and that becomes the best reason to make orangutan day a special day because to tell you the truth I often think they might be the better humans…
So yes, please give them some extra thought today and think of how we can all together make this world a better place for us and them.
Willie Smits, August 18th, 2019
Posted by: Admin | August 9, 2019
She lost the battle
The poor starving female that we tried to rescued died at midnight in the arms of our paramedic, two days after together with the forestry police rescued her from an oil palm plantation not too far from Pontianak. The autopsy revealed many grim details. She never had a chance. First we discovered that her skull had been crushed with a heavy object, probably an ironwood pole. We also noticed other bruises on her back and in her neck. From the way the skull was smashed it was clear that she was killed from behind, probably whilst trying to flee from her pursuers. But we also noticed that some of her lower teeth had broken off already before, something that never happens in the wild. Obviously she had been attacked before while trying to find food.
We looked at the satellite images around the location where she was attacked to see if we could understand why she would come out of the forest again to face such huge risks of people killing her. Then it became clear, very clear! A number of oil palm plantations had eaten away at the nearby peat swamp forest, the prime orangutan habitat. And the loss of forest was enormous, leaving only a small patch of peat swamp in the middle of a ring of oil palm plantations. That patch probably still has more starving orangutans in it. Our team lead by Dr. Vicktor will go and do a survey there as soon as we have the funds to organize the expedition.
We had not yet named the female that arrived unconsciously. She never woke up again and now from her remains we know why. The long starvation period, the vicious attack and the terrible suffering she must have endured. She was attacked by villagers when she entered the oil palm plantation of a private farmer, but the big loss of her habitat was caused by companies that converted the vast majority of her forest in oil palm plantations. Cheap plant oil for which she paid a heavy price.
We are all extremely sad that we lost her. Also that we will have to continue to go out to save those we can still save until their forest is respected and protected. Thank you for your support at least giving us a chance to fight for our red ape of Asia in the heart of Borneo.
The SOC team.
Posted by: Admin | August 1, 2019
Food Garden: Saves Money and Makes Sense
When you are visiting Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue Center’s Food House, you will see a lot of buckets of foods. Piles of fruits slices: banana, pineapple, watermelon, pineapple, sour soup, cucumber, calabash, etc. Every day keeper and volunteers provide those foods to animals in the center. These various types of foods are to meet the needs of animals for variations in food as in nature, nutritional and nutritional needs obtained from different foods, and also as part of the rehabilitation process to reduce dependence on the same type of food.
However, Foods costed millions of Rupiah each month. Food is a serious business. When the center rescuing animals from illegal traders or local residences, they could not immediately release the animal to their natural habitat. Not because the animals came from various regions in Indonesia, but also because not all of animals are ready to survive in the wild. Some animals kept for so long in captivity that they become so dependent on human. Center also have to search suitable place for release. And that’s take times.
For a while, which can last for months or even years, the animals have to stay in the center. Center has to feed them every day excpet maybe for reptiles, that don’t need everyday foods. Previously, the center purchased foods from local market. They need 14.3 tons of foods each month. Food Garden is a program donated bay AKBH (Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation) that try to reduce the cost by minimizing the cost especially for fruits and vegetables. The program encourages staffs to grow plants in the land belong to Masarang Foundation.
For the first stage, staffs begin plant corn, cassava, pineapple, banana, watermelon, and calabash in Doro
beach (1.3 hectares) and nursery area. In Tulap, a sea turtle nesting site area, an hour drom Tasikoki, staffs planted banana dan pinapple at rocky hills besides the beach. At Pulisan (2 hectares) and Rurukan (a hectare). Tomohon, they planted corn and cassava.
Staff also purchase bananas directly from local residence instead of buying from broker. This practice can reduce costs up to 4 until 5 million rupiah. can reduce costs up to 4 until 5 million rupiah. The staffs are targeting 20 until 30 percent reduction each month. Due to less experience in planting, not all of the plants grow well. But so far, the progress is pretty good. They managed to harvest 9 sacks of corn from an area of only 200 square meters. Imagine if they plant in a wider area. Just say, 1 hectare. There is still a lot of unused land owned by Masarang Foundation that can be planted with crops.
Photos by Masarang Foundation team
Posted in Hong Kong, International, Masarang Club, Supporting, Tasikoki Project
Posted by: Admin | July 26, 2019
Shun Tak Fraternal Association Yung Yau College and Masarang Hong Kong
Principal, Staff and Students of SFCA Yung Yau College with their donations to Tasikoki
A group of staff and students from SFCA Yung Yau College visited Sulawesi and volunteered at Tasikoki Wildife Rescue and Education Centre earlier this year. We wrote about a previous group visit in 2018 (https://masarang.hk/2018/07/24/shun-tak-fraternal-yung-yau-college-students-volunteering-at-tasikoki/) and we are all very proud that another group visited this year.
We believe that the SFCA Yung Yau College Team has learned a great deal from their experience and we know they donated a great deal of time during their Easter holiday and showed a great deal of energy and enthusiasm. We are also very grateful for the items they donated to Tasikoki, as shown in the photo above.
Thank you to the school management for helping to arrange the visit and for volunteering with the students. The principal, Mr Alex Kai, as well as three of his senior leadership team and two additional staff, spent a week of the Easter holiday volunteering and supervising the students.
A very special thank you to Mr Billy Kwok Kee Yung for sponsoring this visit to Tasikoki for the second year. We are very grateful for his support and his generosity.
The wonderful report the students have already prepared upon their return to HK can be read via the link below. We hope you enjoy it. We certainly did!
We are also very excited that the students and going to prepare an animation and we will be uploading that as soon as it is finished.
Volunteer at Tasikoki
Volunteers are very important to Tasikoki, not only for the donations they bring but also for the work they do and the example they provide. School visits are vital to Tasikoki and visits from schools in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have been taking place for more than 9 years. Masarang hk is very proud to have initiated this international school residential programme as we believe each volunteer visit brings:
greater global awareness to every student;
greater understanding of relevant curriculum topics;
more essential support for Tasikoki.
Please contact us if you would like to visit or support Tasikoki:
masarang.hk@gmail.com
Thank you.
Masarang hk Team
Posted in Hong Kong, International, Masarang Club, Tasikoki Project