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| Group of American Marine Biologists that assisted the animal before our arrival |
Taman Safari
Indonesia (TSI) received a call for support from the PKSDA to provide onsite
support and assessment for a stranded dugong. A small team comprising of,Dr.
Nimal Fernando,Dr. Kadek Kesuma, Nyoman Suartawan, (BSMP) and Sutejo (Batang
Dolphin Centre) arrived at Kanawa Island on the 15thJanuary. Based on onsite discussions
the recent history is as follows: the
animal was first observed alone off the beach on the 1st January, it
was then not seen for a few days and finally on the 12th January
when it was seen again a group of visiting American marine biologists decided
to intervene and bring the animal under human care for assistance.
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| TSI's staff Feeding the animal |
On arrival we
worked closely with the Americans to ensure a smooth transition as they were
departing the island the next day. We
provided a new milk formula based on giraffe milk powder that we had carried
from BSMP. Overall the animal appeared bright, it had several skin lacerations
over the body from the surrounding corals and rocks where it was stranded, but
they appeared to be healing well.
During our stay
the animal was taking approximately 400 – 500 mls of milk formula, which is
below target but it was hoped that would gradually improve. Further during milk
feeding breaks the animals could be observed eating small amounts of sea grass
from the surrounding area. The animal was also observed to urinate and defecate,
which was a promising sign.
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| The animal found comfort |
During our time
we had several meeting with representatives from the Komodo National Park,
BKSDA, WWF, local community members and a collective decision was made that the
animal was to stay onsite for rehabilitation with the support of the local
community. Taman Safari Indonesia was to then
spend time training members of the local community (that were employed at the
resort) to make up the milk formula, handle the animal etc. TSI would also plan
staged withdrawal from the island once the local community felt they could
handle the hand raising. Myself and Dr Kadek left on the 18th
January and Nyoman Suartawan on the 19th. Sutejo was to stay on to
assist with trailing with the aim that he would be replaced after about 5-7
days. On our
recommendation the BKSDA officer erected signage advising tourists not to interfere and touch the dugong. We also left
with the instruction to continue the hand feeding every two hours during
daylight hours and to also construct a
sea pen to contain the animals overnight.
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| Feeding was arround the clock during daylight hours |
I should be
noted that hand raising dugongs is challenging and people were reminded that
despite the best efforts of all, the outcome may not be positive. There was also
concern that the locals may try to use this animal to generate income from the visiting tourists (photos / handling) and
also locals (touching or collecting dugong tears). On our second last day I had
to strongly remind the local community not to allow tourists etc. to handle the
animal as during a training session they had actively called over some tourists
for photos and handling opportunities. It is hoped that
this animal will survive to weaning and that TSI can continue to support (in some
capacity) until release. We will
certainly continue to monitor the feeding data and help review this in case any
problems arise. Overall it is a good story about conservation and collaboration
and I want to thank TSI for supporting this and allowing us to attend to this
animal.
Public Relation
