WRC Jogja Newsletter #3 - Embracing Research and Education at Our Core

Hello! ~

The year of 2022 is the start of our new hope to

rise from the adverse effects of the pandemic. This year we are starting to reopen the conservation, education and volunteering programs for international participants. Of course, while still implementinghealthprotocolsforsafety

Asidefromthedirectactivitiesheldonsite, we are still making efforts to raise donations through various fundraising platforms to sustain the daily operational costs.Indeed, we would like to thank everyone, especially our donors, animal adopters,aswellasoursocialmediafollowersfor theongoing,continuoussupportgiven,sowecan keepsurvivingtosavemorewildlife.

RESCUE RELEASE TRANSLOCATION

Crested-goshawk (Accipiter trivirgatus)

On January 25th, we received an infant

Crested-goshawkeagle(Accipitertrivirgatus) with a fractured leg, suspected to be caused by falling from a nest. Due to the complexity of the case and the limited facility we have, we asked for assistancefromourpartner,theGLZootoperforman x-ray and a reposition surgery Unfortunately, the recovery period was very challenging, given the presumed infectious conditions on the leg that had beengoingonforquiteawhile.

There were a total of 18 animals

rescued during the months of January to April. At this moment, we are caring for 133 animals, following the release or translocation of some animals.

A long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis)

InearlyFebruary,wehousedanotherLong-tailed

macaque.The animal was handed over directly by its owner because it had shown aggression towardstheirneighbors.Thisincidentisproofthat, regardless of how cute wild animals seem to be, their wild instincts will never be permanently suppressed.Itisverysadtoknowthatthereisstilla lotofsocialmediacontentcreatedbycelebritiesas a means of glorifying wild animal ownership and increasing motives to keep wildlife, especially neglected primates like long-tailed macaques, as pets. As reported last year, we received ten macaques, who were all submitted to us for becomingaggressivetowardstheirowners.

A Sunbear (Helarctos malayanus) and a Sumatran Orangutan (Pongo abelii) from an unregistered zoo

OnMarch3,2022,anorangutan(Pongo

abelii) and a sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) arrived at WRC Jogja These two animals were confiscated from an unregisteredzooontheislandofMadura.They were kept in very poor conditions and enclosures unfit for purpose, causing them bothtodevelopsomephysicalproblems.One of the most traumatizing inflictions was on the sun bear, it appeared that the adult male had had his canine teeth cut out, thus causing severeteethandguminfectionsthatalsoledto the infection spreading into his snout. Luckily, we noticed the condition quickly, hence the emergency teeth extraction surgery could be performed immediately with the help of a veterinary dentist and assistance of GLZoo's veterinarians.

Themaleorang-utanwasinitiallyfound to be a juvenile and looked physically fit. However, later the laboratory examination showedhimtobequitemalnourished.

A Sunda Pangolin (Manis javanica)

On March 22, 2022, we assisted our partner

organization, the Center for Orangutan Protection, to arrest an illegal animal trader and managed to rescue one pangolin But unfortunately, it died several days after during its quarantine period. We suspected the death was caused by prolonged stress sustained from the trading process. Pangolins are very sensitive by nature and have extremely low survival rates once removedfromtheirnaturalhabitat.Withthespecies beingsoendangered,wewereobviouslyveryupset withthefatethiscreaturesuffered.

14 Javan porcupines (Hystrix javanica)

On March 29, 2022, we received 14

confiscated porcupines from the joint operation of Yogyakarta Police Department and BKSDA. Several of them were entrapped with snares on their legs due and suffered from wounds on their forehead, sustained from the poor transport cages. After spending a week in quarantine, the Javan porcupines were placed in observation enclosures.

TRANSLOCATION

Eagles to West Java Sunbear & Orangutan to Borneo

Four eagles were finally successfully

translocated to the Javan Eagle Sanctuary Centre, Halimun Salak National Park, West JavaonMarch25th.ThreeofthemareChangeablehawkeagles,whileoneofthemistheBlack-winged kiteeagle.

After the recovery of the successful dental

surgery, the adult male sun bear (whom arrived together with the Orangutan), was successfully translocated to Borneo Orang-utan SurvivalFoundation(BOSF)SambojaLestari,East Kalimantan on April 16th with the support from the East Kalimantan Conservation Authority (BKSDA Kalimantan Timur) and Centre for Orang-utan Protection.Thankfully,hearrivedtheresafely

EDUCATION RESEARCH

Intotaltherewere14internsfromvariousuniversitiesacrossIndonesiaassisting

with the workload between January andApril. Some of them are from the Bogor AgriculturalUniversity,AirlanggaUniversity,andBrawijayaUniversity.Inaddition totheinternship,wehadatotalof87elementarystudentsfromtwodifferentschools inKulonProgocometolearnaboutwildlifeconservationfromourstaff.Furthermore, our veterinarian also gave a talk through Live Instagram which was held by @ruangmemberilastFebruarywiththetitle,“LoveForFauna”.

Finally the binturong genetic

research is nearly complete. Our team are still doing some finishing steps, plus preparing for the publication work. We also plan to further expand the research to generate a more practical aspect in identifying the origin of the binturong.

Inthemeantime,wearealsopreparingfor theresearchaspectoftheMalayanGiant Turtleconservationprogram.Weintendto reveal information about this elusive reptile species through findings of their health parameters, as well as investigating the suitable environment aspect for improving their aquatic environment.

Turtle Husbandry Workshop

Inconjunctionwiththekick-offoftheMalayan

Giant Turtle conservation project, we organized a workshop to increase capacity and understanding of the project's member organization regarding the turtles' health and husbandry.Ourcollaborators,GLZoo,Yayasan Konklusi, and Indonesia Herpetofauna Foundation, as well as Yogyakarta ConservationAuthority(BKSDAYogyakarta)all participated in this workshop. The workshop was divided into two sessions: presentation by speakers and field practice, closed with a follow-up discussion between the project collaborators.

The final session of Capacity Building on Animal Welfare delivered by the Global Animal Welfare

Finally, the capacity building on animal

welfare is over. There were 8 sessions coveredfromthebeginningoftheprogram, from the basic concept of animal welfare to its application in the field with concern towards maximizingwelfareundermanylimitations.Also, there were at least ten participants from other conservationorganizationstunedin.Wehopeto continue working with GAW in the future to help improve wild animal welfare throughout Indonesia.

DONATION FUNDRAISING

The pandemic effects haven't

completely disappeared. The volunteer program is very slowly progressing. Therefore we are still actively opentovariouscrowdfundingopportunities. Earlier this year, we renewed the contract with several online fundraising platforms including: Bantoo.id (https://www.bantoo.id/campaigns/wrcjogja), Benihbaik.com (https://m.benihbaik.com/campaign/wrcjogja-selamatkan-satwa-liar), and also Kitabisa.com (https://kitabisa.com/campaign/wildliferescu ecentrejogja).

Adoption Program

Starting from January, we obtained 5

adopters, followed by a further 9 adopters inFebruary,10adoptersinMarchandthen 9 adopters in April. Thanks to this adoption programme,wecanfulfillthebestenrichmentfor the animals that are here. We hope that this adoption program continues to grow throughout 2022 to enable us to continue supporting the rescuedinhabitantsatWRCJogjawitheverything thattheydeserve.

WHAT’S NEXT?

e will continue our work to rescue, Wrehabilitate, and release any injured and/or threatened wildlife that comes to our door, whilst educating the community about the importanceofwildlifeconservation.

Inthecomingmonthswewillmoveseveralof theMalayanGiantTurtlesfromthelargepondtothe observation pool and conduct the health assessments,aswellasmonitortheirbehaviors.

We will also prepare for the translocation of the orang-utan to Sumatra and the release of the confiscatedanimals,suchasporcupines,civetcats andlong-tailedmacaques.

By following strict health protocols, we are trying to reopen volunteer programs for foreign nationals For more information, please check https://www.wrcjogja.org/volunteer/ or email us at info@wrcjogja.org

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

The pandemic is indeed our hardest time.

Thankfully now the situation keeps improving. We are excited about the travel beingmoreopen,sowecanwelcomeourbeloved volunteersagain!

We still need your help and support to continueourwork.Yourgeneroussupporthelpsus throughthisdifficultsituation.Pleaseconnectwith us and see how you can contribute more to conservation by following us via social media and visitingourwebsite(www.wrcjogja.org).

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We thank to all help and assistance from all institutions involved in conservationactioninourcentre.

Our Partners

Our Education and Research Activities Supporters

Our species conservation project donor

Our Donors

GKI Yogyakarta

Individual Donors

Bonnie Hunter, Jennifer Parker, Alessandro Rosetti, EkaRini, ex-volunteers that we cannot mention one by one.

Merchandise Partnerships