Posted by: Willie Smits | January 26, 2024

Masarang Palm Sugar and Cacao Chocolate

For the Hong Kong-based artisanal chocolate company, Cacao: Guilt Free Luxury Chocolates, 

Masarang’s Arenga palm sugar is a key ingredient in almost all of their products. 

On their trip to Indonesia in 2023, they sat down with Willie to talk about the making of the

Masarang Foundation palm sugar, and its many benefits to local people, wildlife and habitats.

Posted by: Willie Smits | January 15, 2024

Masarang HK’s Annual Christmas Donation

Posted by: Willie Smits | December 29, 2023

Season’s Greetings and a Happy New Year

Seasons Greetings from the heart of Borneo where we continued our five year tradition to provide all orangutans in Sintang as well as the staff with an end of year treat. We can assure you that the staff loved durian as much as our orangutans do. On the left in this happy baby group is Annette and the right is Piet. In the middle is a still unnamed orphan waiting for an adopter. We should not have to rescue all these orphans but we will do what we can for them as long as we are needed. Thank you to our supporters that enable us to help the orangutans, their forest habitat and the local people living near their forest home.

Posted by: Willie Smits | December 18, 2023

Tasikoki, Rescue and visit by Cacao

As you may already know, back in October members of the Masarang Foundation team intercepted a shipment of endangered red-and-blue lorries that were due to be smuggled to the Philippines. Recently one of our partners, Cacao: Guilt Free Luxury Chocolates, paid a visit to Tasikoki to see our wildlife rehabilitation work for themselves. Here is Cacao representative, Thomas Gomersall, with an update on the lories.

Posted by: Willie Smits | November 17, 2023

Piet’s Journey at the Sintang Quarantine Center

As of October 2023, Piet, the young male orangutan rescued from an owner, is making progress in his new environment at the Sintang Quarantine Center. Piet, estimated to be around 1 year old, arrived at the center on September 29, 2023, after being rescued. The rescue operation was carried out by the West Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) in collaboration with the Sintang Orangutan Center (SOC). This operation was initiated based on a report from a concerned resident from Nanga Raya Hamlet, Nanga Raya Village, Belimbing Hulu Subdistrict, Melawi Regency.

Previously, the orangutan was found by the owner in the protected forest area, Sungai Beluai. The orangutan was abandoned on the forest floor without a mother, attracting the attention of the owner, who was gathering wood and hunting in the area. The orangutan, later named Rayo, was estimated to be around 1 year old but was in very poor physical condition, suffering from malnutrition and diseases such as worms and flu.

Rayo’s owner had kept him since April 2023, providing inadequate nutrition in the form of rice, rice water, sweetened condensed milk, and occasional watermelon, which did not meet his nutritional needs. The orangutan was kept in a small bamboo cage, measuring approximately 1 x 1 x 1 m, resembling a chicken coop. The owner’s motivation for keeping Rayo was solely because the orangutan was abandoned without a mother to care for him.

Upon receiving information and an appeal regarding the protection of wild animals and the laws governing their protection, the owner, with the help of other locals, reported the finding to the authorities. This rescue action was a crucial step in supporting wildlife conservation, especially for orangutans, and aimed to raise awareness about environmental and wildlife protection within society.

Currently, at the Sintang Quarantine Center, Rayo, now known as Piet, shares his living space with two other recently rescued baby orangutans, Annette and Junet, both female. Despite being in close proximity, Piet continues to display a solitary temperament, showing little interest in interacting with the other babies and often spends his time on top of the canopy of octagonal cage. On September 10, 2023, Piet, along with Annette and Junet, transitioned to octagonal cages, allowing them to acclimate to a more spacious and enriched environment. Annette, in contrast, shows a keen interest in interacting with Piet, often following him around and attempting to engage, while Piet remains indifferent, allowing her to initiate interactions as she pleases.

Piet’s condition today is slowly getting better, thanks to the dedicated staff at the Sintang Quarantine Center. The staff provides Piet with various nutrients and vitamins to boost his recovery. Additionally, deworming treatments have been administered to Piet to address his worm infestation, aiding in his overall health and well-being. Piet’s journey at the Sintang Quarantine Center continues under the care and guidance of the staff, with ongoing efforts to monitor and understand his behavior, providing the necessary support for his rehabilitation and eventual hopeful return to the wild.

Pictures – Our team rescuing Piet

Pictures – Piet in octagonal cage along with his new friends

Posted by: Willie Smits | November 17, 2023

Little Piet now with his Favourite Toy

Posted by: Willie Smits | November 7, 2023

Tasikoki: more challenges

Apologies due to issues with the website, we have been unable to upload articles. Thanks to Merrin, Anna and Wisnu’s hard work, we can start uploading again

Yesterday we received another shipment of confiscated parrots that had been smuggled to the Philippines. This picture beneath shows the enormous effort that is needed to realize the transport. We need permits from the customs, quarantine, airport authority, ministry of forestry, etc. So today I would like you what Billy Lolowang and his team at Tasikoki have been struggling with for the last few months only. And now only showing the birds, not even other species like orangutan, macaques, turtles, etc. Below the report of 19/10/2023.

Here we see representatives of all kinds of government agencies involved in the return of confiscated wildlife from The Philippines. Our doctor Aviva is the one wearing the mask and Billy Lolowang, our Masarang Tasikoki manager is standing on the far left.

Nothing can be done without official documents. Billy signing for receiving the new arrivals.

Now it is time to unload the poor birds and give them the best possible care under what we can do with our facilities and staff.

On the picture, Masarang’s Tasikoki vet drh Avivah with part of the new arrivals. We already received several shipments with hundreds of protected Indonesian wildlife, including tree kangaroos, turtles and many more species that were confiscated in The Philippines. Last July we took in 91 animals of 15 species from the Philippines. Unfortunately hundreds more are to arrive still this year and next year. This comes on top of all the locally intercepted smuggling attempts that also resulted in hundreds of new animals at our Tasikoki wildlife rescue and education center. It is hard to budget for this continuous stream of new arrivals both needing additional cages and food and expensive medical care. For now we do not have enough space so are hoping to receive enough support before the end of the official 30 day quarantine during which time we have to keep the birds isolated in their transport cages as can be seen in the image below. Especially so because the highly contagious PBFD virus was found to have infected some of the most recent confiscations so these birds are still occupying the bird quarantine facility.

On the left the condition of the new arrivals. Far from ideal, but if not confiscated many more birds will be caught and smuggled and die as that will only increase wildlife trade even more. All the private zoos in the province closed over Covid with huge losses of life of so many animals. The ministry of forestry does not have the facilities to take them in either. We are the only rescue center in this strategic hotspot of international wildlife smuggle. Also the government bureaucratic system is very cumbersome in that they cannot revise their budget in a short time due to their obligation to stick to ther#ir agreed budget.
Below another confiscation of 71 (five birds had died before arrival), this time in the harbor of Manado, comprising 71 surviving red and blue lory birds. They were intercepted from the KM Barcelona boat that serves the connection Talaud-Manado on September 29th. The way the birds were stuffed in bottles and boxes was similar to the many birds confiscated on July 20th. The way the birds were shipped without an accompanying person was also the same, and obviously whoever was awaiting the birds in Manado realized our presence and just let go of the birds instead of risking capture.

And below another example of the smuggling of birds from Talaud on August 28th, This time in the harbor of Bitung.

And here some pictures of the confiscations on July 7th which was special in that the special water police unit rescued these birds from a boat at sea. More and more institutions are supporting the cause of fighting wildlife locally but we have a huge bottleneck in the capability, facilities and finance to handle these hundreds and hundreds of arrivals. We already sent so many birds back after health checks to Papua, the Moluccas, Kalimantan and other places but the amount is overwhelming.

Sadly I could go on and on, going further back in time or discussing the other rescued wildlife but I think the reader can get the picture. Through our intensified intelligence and good cooperation with other parties, including other NGO’s like WCS, we will for sure get many more birds to rescue.

Many of them have lost their wing tips or refuse to fly after long captivity. For such birds we hope to develop our Salimburung bird island sanctuary, only a 20 minute boat ride from our Temboan area, where we hope to relocate at least part of the Tasikoki center. But that development, which could provide a forest sanctuary for many of the non-releasable birds is going to need more fundraising.

Willie Smits,
October 20th, 2023

Posted by: Admin | August 19, 2023

Orangutan Day 2023

A day to stand still for a moment and reflect on our intelligent fellow primates that are still facing such an aggregate of threats to their survival in the wild. We all know the depressive statistics on habitat loss, fragmentation of their remaining jungle areas, continued hunting, poaching and smuggling and now, just starting, what promises to be the worst El Nino in human history… No number of soccer fields per minute disappearing or percentages decrease in remaining number of orangutans can express the seriousness of what every single one of them is facing. I saw mothers starving and dying while trying to hang on to life in degraded forests. And flying extremely low over the Mangkutup river in the Central Kalimantan burning peat swamps, in thick smoke by helicopter, I saw the flames consuming the last trees on the river edge burning and a huge cheekpadder orangutan in a burning tree dropping himself in the water to his certain death, so much like the people in Hawaii that had no place to outrun the fires.

It is a terrible thought that the survivors of those terrible 1997/1998 fires and equally disastrous fires of 2015/2016 will now, just like the local people, again hardly be able to breath and escape the flames. We will need to anticipate many new rescues. Odom, whom I entrusted setting up the BOSF Nyaru Menteng center near Palangkaraya in 1998 was out in the field for months during 2015/2016 and in that period he and his team tracked, captured and relocated 89 adult orangutans from the peat swamp fires. We have no idea how many more perished. This picture of Odom in action tells more than pages of text can.

As always we will do our utmost to save as many orangutans as we can but the fight cannot be won on the local level alone. We need to deal with international wildlife smuggling and global climate change as a result of human activities. It needs to be a global effort. Perhaps this year’s super El Nino will be the shocking wakeup call we badly need to jump into real action? Honestly, I don’t know, but what I do know is that giving up is not an option!

Willie Smits

Posted by: Admin | July 10, 2023

Hope and Amory Have Been Released

Though it has been a very difficult few years for all of us, Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue and Education Centre and the Sintang Orangutan Centre have continued caring for all their recued animals. We are now thrilled to report that releases have been able to start again! The film and updates below show the latest release of Hope and Amory from the Sintang Orangutan Centre. Hope was named by the dedicated volunteer team at Orangutan Help Luxembourg, and orangutan Amory was named in honour of a dear friend Amory Lovins, a renowned scientist, celebrated author and dedicated orangutan promoter and supporter.

Please refer to the link below to watch a short inspiring film about the latest release: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pW0sJfe0trMHZI2qI_kjpHWZB7RSBmcb/view?usp=drive_link

For more information including details of the original rescue of both Hope and Amory, please read the article below:

The first 2 quarterly reports from SOC are included below, for your reference:

Thank you for Your interest, help and support. We need more help than than ever so please do help us, help them.

The Masarang HK Team

Posted by: Admin | March 20, 2023

Bailey’s Turtle Hatchery

Short video showing the hatchery of Temboan


 

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:-

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