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DECEMBER 2004 - JANUARY 2005 Hold the cursor over each photo to see a description
Although we have been busy recently at WARED, these month's activities have been overshadowed by recent events. As I'm sure you're aware, at the end of December most of the western coast of Southern Thailand was devastated by three tsunamis. All of our animals survived and are doing well albeit somewhat stressed. WARED would like to send out our condolences to everyone who has lost friends and family due to this tragedy. Half of the village in which the project is situated was destroyed by the waves and many local people died. WARED has been offering support to the local community and has been established as a base of operations for the aid that has come in vast quantities. We would like to thank all of the people who have donated through our website and by other means. NEW ARRIVALS GENERAL NEWS After the tsunamis the centre was left knee deep in foul smelling mud. We waited a couple of days for the mud to dry and then started a huge clean up operation. All of our huts had to be scrubbed clean and then disinfected as there was a high probability that there were harmful bacteria present in the mud. Some of our cages are near to a stream line and the water came right into the lowest parts of them. We had to clean these cages and also our animal's water containers fairly urgently as they were also caked in thick mud and it could be harmful for the animals if they ingested it. The tsunamis left many local people homeless and a programme to build new houses has already started. Unfortunately the location of the building site is right next to many of our gibbon cages and they were beginning to get really stressed. We have shifted a few of our macaques about to make room to accommodate our gibbons in cages away from the noise and dust. A new stairway has been constructed to allow better access between two macaque cages. Previously the path was very steep and narrow and the staff as well as the volunteers had to pay special attention when going through the area. The workers have done a good job and the access is now very easy for everyone. On January 9th there was a 'Children's Day' held all over Thailand . It is a tradition in Thailand to hold a children's day every year on the second Saturday in January. WARED were the hosts of a day of games, singing, dancing and children's activities. We also had many award ceremonies and presentations to the local children. We were honored by a visit from the Vice Prime-Minister of Thailand , the Deputy Minister for the Interior and many other politicians and ministers.
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SPECIAL THANKS MACAQUE UPDATE We are currently caring for fifty crab-eating macaques at the sanctuary. An organization from Britain, the British Union for Abolition of Vivisection-BUAV, was able to facilitate their release from a laboratory after lengthy negotiations and much persistence. They were in the laboratory for ten years and were subjected to various experiments. They have improved greatly in the first two years of their new lives. We are constantly thinking of new ways to stimulate their minds and improve their cages both with environmental and foraging enrichment. This month we had a visit from the BUAV Information Officer Dawn Rothwell. She took a short holiday to come out and stay with us for a couple of weeks. We would like to thank her and BUAV for the very much needed surgical equipment they donated. During her stay Dawn had the idea of giving the macaques coconuts to play with and eventually to eat as environment enrichment as well as food enrichment. As they had been in the labs for about ten years they hadn't seen a coconut for a long time and, judging by some of their reactions, some probably never before. They were all very curious as to the nature of the new additions to their cages. Some of the macaques viewed their strange new toys with interest and some with suspicion. Most didn't recognize the coconuts as food and we had to score a small cut in the coconuts through to the flesh so that they could smell the milk and comprehend that this was something edible. They spent a while trying to crack open their tasty morsels and were kept mentally active with them for a few hours. When they finally opened the coconuts there was a frantic twenty minutes while everyone tried to scoff as much as they could! There are still a few tougher coconuts left in the cage that the macaques didn't have the strength or the patience to open immediately. They play with them occasionally and are still kept occupied with them throwing them about the cages, hitting them on things and trying other quite ingenious methods of splitting them open. We have now reached a very good equilibrium with the macaques and very rarely move them about. We have six couples together and ten slightly larger groups all of which get along with each other very well. We hope that they will continue to improve in condition and mental stability as time goes on.
GENERAL NEWS WARED has continued to distribute aid to many villagers affected by the tsunami in the surrounding areas. We are also supporting the locals by liaising between a few aid groups and the villagers and assessing what they most need at this time. One group that seems to have been neglected somewhat is the domestic animals. WARED has kindly been donated many bags of dog food by The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals-RSPCA, Dr. Chisanu Tiyacharoensri ( WAR vice-president ) and the animal food manufacturer Dogkin. WARED are going round to villages up and down the coast and feeding as many stray dogs as we can find. Thai Muslims and dogs are not very compatible with each other and therefore many of the dogs are left uncared for. Several of the owners of these dogs died in the tsunami and consequently the dogs are rooting through rubbish dumps in order to find food. We have enough food to keep providing for the dogs for a few months and hope that local people may take the dogs in to their homes after we have finished. Due to the housing estate built adjacent to some of our cages, we relocated several of our gibbons, as they were very stressed being situated so close to humans. As a result we were able to move our stump-tailed macaque to a bigger cage. WAR would like to thank BUAV for their continuing work and support from Britain. We receive a yearly donation from BUAV to help with the macaques' physical and mental wellbeing. WAR also received a generous donation from BUAV to help with their tsunami relief operation. They also donated medical supplies to WARED for the animals. At the beginning of the month a Pangolin wandered into our sanctuary. We noticed that it had an injured tail which was infested with maggots. Though this indicated that it was on the mend naturally it was decided we should help it along the way. It was kept under observation for two days and we treated its wound regularly. It didn't take long to return to full health and we released it soon afterwards. We would like to thank "The Rising Star Project" for their kind donation to our project and their cooperation with our organization. On the 27th we had a satellite installed just outside the centre meaning we can now access the internet from the sanctuary itself as opposed to having to drive 5km to our office site. This means everything can be run more efficiently and we have immediate access to the 'outside world'. This month building work was begun on a veterinary clinic next to our animal kitchen. When completed, this will enable our vets to perform surgery in a sterile environment. This will also allow routine procedures to be carried out on site. We have had the Department for Skills Development visiting the village and holding cooking and welding lessons for the villagers. The WARED project has been the venue for the cooking lessons and we have been surrounded by beautiful smells every day in the office.
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SPECIAL THANKS
MACAQUE UPDATE During the month of March we distributed boiled eggs to all the macaques as food enrichment and as a nutritional supplement. Eggs are important to their diet for the protein they contain. They also contain biotin, pantothenic acid and iron all of which help to promote new skin growth and keep the macaque's coats healthy. The month of March is the end of the school year and during the break WARED has given the opportunity to three student groups, totalling eighteen intern students, to have some practical experience at the Rescue Centre. Part of their work is to observe the macaques more closely and in more depth. Behavioural observation sheets have been created in order to record information about their feeding and other type of activities such as resting, moving, aggressive behaviour and grooming. Some of our macaque cages were in need or refurbishing as they had not been refurbished for a few months. We refurbish our cages regularly so that we can try and keep the macaques minds as active as possible and constantly change their environment. We were aided in our refurbishment with the purchase of various tyres, ropes and toys for the macaques to swing on. These were a gift from a staff member at The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, the organization responsible for the macaque's release from the laboratories three years ago. We were able to move some of our macaques back to their pre-tsunami cages as the building work taking place in the village has finished. Our two baby macaques Kamla and Beckham were taken out of their cages whilst the building work was in progress and were housed in separate cages as we didn't have a cage sufficiently large enough for the two of them. They have now been reunited again in their old cage in the forest. Two of our macaques are having problems with a bad cough. We have been treating them with anti-inflammatory tablets every day and will continue to do so until the cough clears up. There are about ten of our macaques whose coats have been slowly deteriorating over the last few weeks. Our vet has prescribed a course of anti-parasitic tablets and we continue to assess their condition daily. Unfortunately one of the WARED macaques, who was receiving treatment at our animal clinic, escaped and disappeared. The WARED staff are continuing the search for him and we hope that we will find him soon. GIBBON UPDATE We have recently refurbished the old cages of both of our pileated gibbons. They were relocated to smaller cages two months ago because of the nearby housing construction but, as the noise has died down significantly, it was decided that now was the time to move them back. We refurbished their cages to help to keep their lives more interesting and to replace any wood that had rotted or been eaten by termites. They seem to be delighted at returning to their old territories as they were on familiar ground once more. They spent a few days investigating and getting accustomed to the changes that we have made to their old cages such as more ropes on which to swing and new branches to sit and swing on. INTERN STUDENTS As mentioned above WARED currently has eighteen intern students at the Rescue Centre. The students are in their third year of veterinary studies from three different universities in Thailand . We have organised specific planning for them so that they can take care of the daily feeding routine and also help out with the other daily tasks together with the current volunteers. In addition to the routine work we also have practical work experience for them to get to grips with as we have three Lorises to take care of. Two of the Lorises were brought to us by the local villagers and suffer from skin problems. The third one came through our sister project The GRP at Phuket and was transported to us for treatment. The students, under Dr. Jib's supervision, have also taken care of a buffalo that has been diagnosed with milk fever and couldn't stand up anymore. Hold the cursor over each photo to see a description
GENERAL NEWS WARED continues to be a main co-ordination centre for the villagers and the first community meeting after the tsunami was held in the Conservation and Education Building . A few aid agencies were present at the meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to assess the ongoing needs for the locals after the tsunami. The WARED staff will act as consultants for these monthly meetings. The Conservation and Education Building has had its roof replaced to ensure it is leak-proof for the rainy season that starts in May. A presentation on the tsunami has been held showing the damage caused to the village. Photos and maps are shown on the walls to illustrate this. Professor Sompoch from the Ranong Marine Research Station also gave a presentation about the damage caused by the tsunami on marine ecology and the nearby coral reefs. A group of media studies students from the USA came to film the daily life of a student after the tsunami. They donated the students school equipment as well as toys. Two groups of volunteers totalling 80 students stayed at the rescue centre during March: "We-Volunteer" was made up of volunteers from secondary schools and the "U-Volunteer" group came from universities. They came from all over Thailand with at least one volunteer from every province. They stayed in the village to assist in the building of a community centre and to help with increasing morale and rejuvenating a community spirit. WARED open their doors to any aid related to the post tsunami relief operation and we accommodated the volunteers for their ten day stay. |
