Help save confiscated or injured Sumatran wildlife

In August we had a call from a village close to our rescue centre. They had accidentally speared a tapir in the forest, thinking it was a wild bore. The village head called SRI immediately and kept the injured tapir located until SRI arrived. They feared the injury to its neck from the spear was too deep to let it go with out treatment. SRI and Batang Gadis National Park officers attended the scene, where the tapir was caught and the two punctures to the tapirs neck were treated. The puncture wounds were not considered life threatening by the vet and after some stitches and other care, the tapir was released into the National Park.

In September SRI had a call from a concerned villager about an endangered monkey that had come into his village and been attacked by some people with punches to the face. The monkey was bleeding in the left eye, left ear, and mouth. SRI went immediately to the village where the concerned villagers had put the injured monkey into a cage to keep it contained. The leaf monkey was treated for its injuries to its left eye and kept at SRI Wildlife Transit Centre for further monitoring over six days before being released back into Batang Gadis National Park.

In November the gibbons that were being loved and cared for at SRI Transit Centre finally found a rehabiliation centre that could continue the rehabiliation work that SRI had beein doing with them for 16 months. The government authority in charge of their wellfare and another NGO (Orangutan Information Centre) came to assist in transporting the gibbons to a holding facility near Medan where they will live temporarily until the rehabilitation centre is built. It was sad to see them move on, but it means there is room for some of the other 400 illegal pet gibbons in this region, and for them to start their journey to freedom. A lot of your donations over the last year have gone to caring for these gibbons, including food and enclosure maintenance, and on behalf of the 13 gibbons we have had at SRI we thank you for your help in our endeavour to get these gibbons, and the many more illegal pets, back in the forest.

The latest arrival to the transit centre is a slow loris (or kukang as its called locally). It is an escaped illegal pet that was found by locals and given to the Batang Gadis National Park officers. It is being cared for in SRI Wildlife Transit Centre. Unfortunately, like most pet loris,his teeth are clipped and he will not able to be released back into the wild. He also has an injured finger that is no longer functioning and will likely have to be amputated. There are many slow loris who are not able to be released due to their teeth being removed, and not many places for them to live after they have been rescued. We will try to find a centre to take this slow loris and care for it for the rest of its life.

On a better note, in November last year we had a volunteer vet nurse come and help us with the gibbons for 2 weeks. Kate was amazing and will be returning to help us in a couple of months under an Australian Government funded volunteer program. We can't wait!