Opening the Wak Gatak Songbird Rescue and Rehabilitation Center
Pontianak - As of June 6th The Wak Gatak Songbird Rescue and Rehabilitation Center is fully open! This unique conservation center consists of a two-story wildlife clinic complete with laboratory space, sterilization room, offices, and kitchen as well as a quarantine building with 80 transport enclosures and three large rehabilitation aviaries encompassing 10 rehabilitation enclosures each. We are now ready to begin rescuing birds from the illegal wildlife trade and rehabilitating them for release back into the wild in their home ranges among areas where we support community-led forest protection efforts.
“This is the first songbird rescue center in Indonesia that only focuses on victims from the illegal wildlife trade. We surveyed every district in West Kalimantan and found that, in just 30 days of surveying over 28,000 birds, the majority of sellers had birds taken from the wild. My dream is that one day we can close this rescue center. It may be a strange dream to mention on the day we open it, but as this center remains open it means there is an unsustainable and unhealthy relationship between the public and wild birds. We must work together so that the voices of Indonesia's forests are not imprisoned, we must work together to free the birds from their cages so that they can fly freely again in the forest - their home.” - Adam Miller, Executive Director of Planet Indonesia.
Baby hornbill, rescued with it’s mother, now has a second chance in the wild.
So far this year, our field staff have assisted the Indonesian government with rescuing over 1,612 animals from the illegal wildlife trade. Whilst our veterinarian, Dr. Happy, has been on-site during these rescues, we are excited that now we have our rescue center open we can give wild birds the full veterinary and rehabilitation care they need for survival.
The Wak Gatak Songbird Rescue and Rehabilitation Center is just one of the many tools that we use to address the illegal wildlife trade. Planet Indonesia Conservation Manager, M. Wahyu Putra explains.
"It takes attention, understanding and joint efforts of related parties in overcoming problems regarding the protection of songbirds in West Kalimantan. Planet Indonesia has done and currently carries out several efforts such as providing songbird rescue and rehabilitation center facilities, behavior change campaigns, escorting court cases related to wildlife trafficking, and education through media reporting".
Songbirds are an important part of the ecosystem in Indonesia and their protection is vital to the health of the overall habitat.
"The ecological role of bird species in the ecosystem is as a natural pollinator and seed dispersal, pest control, indicator of environmental change, and indicator of changing seasons," said Wahyu
According to Wahyu, bird species can be used as indicators of environmental health considering their role in maintaining ecosystem balance and environmental sustainability. The preservation of bird species must be maintained. The Wak Gatak Songbird Rescue and Rehabilitation Center allows us to take one giant leap forward in our the holistic approach to ending the songbird wildlife trade in Indonesia.
We want to give a special thank you to Mandai Wildlife Reserve, EAZA Silent Forest Group, Zoo Rostock, and our other supporters who helped make this project a reality.
This work is done in partnership with Bksda Kalimantan Barat.
Thank you for reading, you can support our work here. If you have any questions please reach out via admin@planetindonesia.org.
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