The Kukang Rescue Program
The main purpose of The Kukang Rescue Program is the fight against the illegal trade in wild animals and the protection, in particular, of the greater slow loris (Nycticebus coucang) and the Sumatran slow loris (Nycticebus hilleri) in Indonesia, especially in the province of North Sumatra. In 2014, a rescue and rehabilitation centre for confiscated slow lorises began to be established on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia to return them to the wild.
The core objectives of The Kukang Rescue Program include raising awareness of the illegal animal trade and conservation of slow lorises, working with and supporting local communities, cooperating with local government agencies to protect animals and enforce laws to protect slow lorises, operating a rescue and rehabilitation centre for confiscated slow lorises, and building an Indonesian team to handle most of the conservation activities associated with slow lorises.
Threats to slow lorises
The biggest threat to slow lorises in Indonesia is the black animal market, where wild-caught individuals are sold mainly as "pets". Although slow lorises are protected by law in Indonesia, they are among the most smuggled mammals here. Slow lorises intended for sale into homes are often de-fanged by traders to prevent them from biting their new owners and make them "more suitable pets". Stressed animals are often subject not only to stress but also to subsequent infections. Another threat to them is the loss and destruction of their environment to establish oil palm plantations or due to illegal logging, etc. Slow lorises are also shot by farmers as pests of crops on their farms.
Activities of the Kukang Rescue Program:
- Establishment of the first rescue centre in Sumatra specializing in slow lorises - the construction of this centre made it possible to receive illegally traded slow lorises and subsequently rehabilitate them to return them to the wild.
- "Kukang Coffee" project - a community of farmers was created, who enforce the ban on hunting of protected animal species, and in return for this, coffee is bought from them at a price that is favourable for them. This high-quality coffee is sold in the first conservation café in the Czech Republic, i.e. the Kukang Coffee café in Ústí nad Labem.
- Operation of an English-environmental school - children from the partner community learn English and the much-needed environmental education three times a week for free under the supervision of a team of female teachers.
- Construction and equipment of a school called "School at the End of the World" - the community of Basukum village asked for help to build their English-environmental school for local children. The program financed the building of this school in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Jakarta.
- Creation and equipment of two eco-libraries - children's relationship to animals, nature, and environmental protection is also built and strengthened with the help of beautiful picture books and eco-activities in cooperation with the non-profit organization Green-Books.org.
- Organizing educational events - awareness about the threat and protection of slow lorises and nature as a whole is spread in various ways, in primary and secondary schools and in the public, offline and online.
- Building a Czech-Indonesian team - one of the main activities of the program is building a new generation of Indonesian nature conservationists.
- Helping farmers deal with their conflicts with wild animals - farmers who live and farm near wildlife are advised by trained Indonesian program staff on how to protect their crops from wild animals without harming or killing them.
- Solving the issue of waste and pollution - the program introduces practical solutions to the issue of waste in partner villages as well as in the rescue centre – from plastic reduction to eco-wastewater treatment plants.
You can learn more at www.kukang.org.
How Ostrava Zoo helps
Ostrava Zoo is the main partner of the Kukang Rescue Program. Ostrava Zoo field worker František Příbrský spends most of the year in Sumatra and coordinates the program directly on the spot. In this way, our zoo contributes to the unified strategy of modern zoos, the philosophy of which is to protect species in situ, i.e. in the place of their natural occurrence. In 2016, the first-ever Ostrava Zoo Run was dedicated to the protection of slow lorises in Sumatra - specifically, it was the Ostrava Zoo Run for Kukang. In addition, the Ostrava Zoo, together with all its visitors, supports the protection of slow lorises through the "3 CZK for Wildlife" program.
