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Matang Wildlife Center (MWC) is located in
Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. The facility was
built and create around 1998. The center is
fairly new when compared to other, more
established rehabilitation centers such as
Sepilok, Tanjung Puting National Park, and
Wanariset. These centers run at full
capacity and sometimes exceed the number of
orangutans they can comfortably accommodate.
These three centers are primarily for
orangutan rehabilitation and
reintroductions, while MWC cares for other
animals too and has only been doing
orangutan rehabilitation and reintroductions
for 5 years.
MWC does not have nearly the number of
orangutans as the other three rehabilitation
centers do. The primary reasons for this are
lack of enclosures, old, shoddy enclosures,
and the other species that are housed at the
center. Due to the lack of enclosure space,
MWC sometimes has to turn down orphaned
orangutans, which then go to other
rehabilitation centers. The main reasons the
volunteer program was established at MWC
were to bring in outside money and have the
volunteers build and repair enclosures,
among many other duties, so that more
orangutans could be rehabilitated there.
The knowledge that I acquired about
orangutan rehabilitation came from actively
participating in the care of orphaned
orangutans, as well as spending each day,
after I put
Gus to bed,
observing the other orangutans, while
brainstorming ideas for my thesis.
The other animals, besides orangutans, at
the MWC are sun bears, binturongs (bear
cats), civets, leopard cats, long tailed
macaques, pig tailed macaques, sambar deer,
gibbons, false gharials, crocodiles, and a
few other animals. Although these animals
were not the focus of the volunteer program
and my practicum, we all pitched in to do
behavioral enrichments for the animals. I
couldn't prepare the food or other materials
most of the time because watching
Gus is more than a full
time job. I did, on occasion, get to help
with feeding when Gus was in a calm, relaxed
mood. On her calmer days, I would have her
in one arm and feed the other animals with
my free hand. I don't have any in-depth,
detailed stories about the other inhabitants
of Matang Wildlife Center because they were
not the focus of my practicum.
For my picture portfolio, I am providing you
with pictures that I took and explaining the
significance of the photos. I introduce the
orangutans that I feel are important to
mention and the stores that go along with
the pictures to aide you in my practicum
experience. I close with some pictures of
the cultural experience that helped shape me
and my time in Borneo. |
