Zoo Negara #9

Reptiles
The house of snakes, crocs and tortoises.

I can't really remember how many snakes and crocs they actually have. Also the types of species (I really shouldn't be a zoologist lol I can't remember any species name..).

Reptiles are also looking after 6 porcupines, which will be transferred to the Mammals once their enclosure is done building. It's rather interesting that they have spines pointing out towards the back of their body, it seems more similar to feathers than fur. It probably is about the same compound that makes the feathers (I'll need to read about this). One of the porcupine was blind in one eye and when I was told that it could be accidental by other porcupine spines. I guess it could be rather common in the wild if you're a little careless, especially when you live in groups. Hrmm..

You can probably tell that I am not really into blogging about this post today. But I hope I can continue sharing the experience without boring the crap out of you (sorry!).

Next were the tortoises, given the diet of vegetables and fruits. Some have developed a favor of fruits over vegetables, some would just eat everything that is given to them. I could not remember what kind of tortoises there were, but one had adabra which are the massive tortoises. Their food were pretty much left the way they were before being fed, while the smaller tortoises had somewhat of a fruit salad with chopped vegetables and fruits. There were two babies born to different tortoises. Not sure if they will survive to be as old as the others, fingers crossed I suppose.

Crocs and snakes were fed once a week, normally during weekends with live rats and chicken. The reptile section has their own rat house, where they would breed their rats. When I firsr stepped in I thought alot of these rats will have to be given to the animals due to its small size. But the next day I found out that universities will give this zoo their rats that they would no longer need and these are normally twice to three times the size of the rats that they breed here. It depends on how many the universities would give, but a truck will always be used as a transport medium. Somehow the keeper only managed to leave the zoo at about noon that day, which meant that the rats returning from the universities were just sunbathing under the treacherous sun of Malaysia on a hot afternoon. As it was also fasting month, the keeper had forgotten to "shower" the rats before transferring them into their box here in the rat house. He also forgotten to check on the rats before calling it a day. the next morning, almost half of them died. It was rather saddening for me to see this and I tried to figure out why before I asked the keeper, 'what happened?'. The rats were overheated and didn't get enough water to drink that night and died.

I tried saving the rest and spent the rest of my third day looking after the rats by making sure they had enough food, water and sawdust. The moment that they found water, I could feel as though they were relieved and were brought back from the dead. Only the remaining one or two that were very close to their death that the water didn't help them at all. After a while, there begin to have some tension in this box of rats; a couple of rats will start screeching and would pause facing each other, as though to watch if the other rat would attack it or not. One inch of movement by the other rat would trigger the other rat to screech and that screech itself is enough to rattle the whole population of rats in that box where all the rats would be seen trying to run for their lives hoping to find somewhere safe.

I felt kinda bad and wondered if it would happen to humans as well; you're at the brink of death and you somehow miraculously survive and your survival instincts kick in so that you would do whatever to protect yourself from going anywhere near that death sentence again. :(

But anyways, I developed a liking for snakes now. Haha. I can't believe how tame a snake can be! Yet at the same time, I would feel bad for it because it isn't feeling like how it should be feeling anymore.

Zoo Negara #8

I managed to work with the Pandas!

Not really. I just get to work for the pandas. I really am quite confused on why people were putting so much emphasis on Pandas while there were other animals in the zoo that needs attending to. The issue with this Zoo is that there is a shortage in Vet. Bringing to the point where there are two oryxes in the Savannah that needs attention had been ignored for such a long time. Poor things were moving about in their cages by using their front two knees. All that was needed to be done was to put them to a momentary sleep so that it was easier to trim their nails so that they would be able to walk properly again. I couldn't stand looking at them.. the animals had no choice but to adapt to what they have.

Okay. So these two pandas are the prized animals that symbolizes the friendship between Malaysia and China. The only thing I could do to help in the Panda section was to usher visitors, answer any questions they may have regarding the pandas, and then shoo them out of the observation area after 20 minutes. Those who were working here in the observation area had to stand from 9am up until 5pm daily with only one hour rest in between. It is probably the most tiring thing I have done in this zoo as it involves human interaction and you have to be really patient with the visitors that come by for visits.

The complaints that visitors give were the fact that they only get to see the pandas for 15 minutes and 98% of the time, the pandas were sleeping. While they are in the observation area, we had to constantly remind every batch of visitors to keep quiet and turn off their flash on their cameras. I am not sure if these two factors really does cause some discomfort to the pandas, but I'd understand that the sound would echo and could be irritating to the pandas.

Some facts about the pandas; they eat about 30kg of selected bamboo per day. They require 24 hours care from the keepers (I don't understand why. The pandas seem pretty fragile in that sense). Five keepers and two vets would take turns with the around the clock observation of the pandas The keepers can be seen in the observation deck observing the pandas. BUT there was pretty much nothing to see, because the panda was either eating or sleeping. For the whole working hours I had there, the pandas would only be awake about 3 to 4 times per day and that would only last for about 10 to 20 minutes before they end up dozing off again. This observation/enclosure building is air conditioned, to provide the pandas a close imitation of the temperature at their home. Sometimes the pandas are fed with apples, carrots and bamboo cakes (some formulated cake with blended bamboo and added nutrients for the pandas). What else? Their poo is yellow and dry, which explains that their diet, the bamboo isn't really that nutritious for the pandas, as it could not be digested. Which sort of explains why they would spend their time sleeping most of the time, and would only be seen active when they are feeling hungry and would eat.

Pandas have the ability to give birth to twins. The only problem is that the mother does not have the ability to take care of two babies at once, hence only one baby would survive each time. What the conservation does is that they would take one of the baby into their care and would swap this baby with the one the mother is caring from time to time, so that the mother will be able to care for both babies at the same time.. which increases the chances of the baby survival. Pandas are also territorial animals, whereby they will pee and mark their territory for two reasons; 'I am here, don't bother coming here' or 'I am a female'. The pandas here in this zoo are separated.. But since they have only been here for a month, they have passed their mating season which is from March to May. I don't know if they will be put together after they are completely settled down here. But until then, they will definitely be separated. These pandas sort of acknowledge the keepers when they are being called, but I guess they could be lazy and refused to listen from time to time depending on their moods. Most of the time they oblige and listen to the keepers because they know they will be rewarded, and apples are sort of their treat.

There was this volunteer in Zoo Negara who apparently adopted the female panda for quite sometime now. She is an avid supporter of the panda conservation, which is something I respect. She got interested about pandas, begin researching about pandas and found www.pandasinternational.org. She initially funded Feng Yi's twin brother who had developed some kind of disease which was rare in the panda population but died soon after, she then decided to transfer her adoption to Feng Yi (the female panda in Zoo Negara). Her name is Chet Chen, if I am not mistaken. A fellow Malaysian who has traveled to China more than a couple of times, just to be involved and to help the pandas conservation in whatever way she could think of.

Back to the visitors.. They get really amused when the panda decides to change position when it sleeps. They would clap out of amusement. There was no way in stopping them from being excited, we could only remind them to relax and keep quiet. People would complain saying that they paid so much and all they get to see was pandas sleeping, they feel as though their money was cheated. There was one visitor who I met asked me if the pandas would do shows for the people to see. It does sadden me how people don't really know what animals are, they would think that animals are just another thing on the earth that is there but serves no real purpose in life.  They say how lazy these pandas are, only eating and sleeping all day. Then one or two lucky groups get to watch the pandas feed and they wouldn't want to leave the observation room when they were being asked to leave.. even when the pandas were sleeping, it was hard to get them to leave. Hrmm.. people are confusing.

No doubt about it, Pandas are adorable. 

Zoo Negara #7

I had a chat with a Vet intern while I was at Carnivore section. The experiences she had shared with me got me listening to her in awe. She shared her experiences being in Africa and how difficult it was for her to study vet in the States.

Lol.
All I was thinking about was 'thank god I had no interest in that field' because it seems very specific and they had more knowledge of the different medicatiom the animals require.

When I tell people I am studying Zoology, they'd expect me to graduate as a Vet. A Vet studies the medical side of the animals, a Zoologist studies the animal 'psychology' - behaviour, how they interact with each other, how they interact with their environment. Depending on the level of which a Zoologist chooses to be in, with a degree - zookeeper, research assistant, masters/phD - researcher.

Ultimately, it would be great if I could land myself into the researching pool. Because that's what I really am interested in. But right now, I can't find the confidence in me to go that far. :/

Also, I reckon people shouls givr a certain degree of recognition for the Vets. Because they study a whole lot to be able to graduate as a certified Vet. We all are in the same pool of people where we really do love animals. And I've realised that we are minorities of the population.

Would say that zoos are a stepping stone, hoping to teach the public, especially the children the importance of animals in the world. But it's hard to explain to them how animals are in the wild and how certain degree of human damage could affect the animals.

Hrmmmm...

Zoo Negara #6

Back at Savannah; the one section that has the requires alot of strength.

Would say that this section requires the most effort in terms of crude work. The cleaning and the feeding are usually in large sums simply because the animals here are larger in size and bigger in number as well.

Zebras, Ostriches, Oryxs and Giraffes.
These are released into the large area and are allowed to roam around  their enclosure freely. It is only in the evening that they come back to their cages for food and sleep. Cages will be cleaned when they are outside in the morning.

Hippo.
There's one hippo at the edge of the Savannah area and this is also taken care by the Savannah staffs.

Ankoli and cows.
Three enclosures for each species. There's 7, 4 and about 20 in each enclosure. Sick or injured ones were separated from the bunch. We clean the enclosure while the cows are around and then feed whenever its food arrives.

I am probably not doing a very good explanation for this section as I really am that tired..

But there is one question I had to ask and I didn't understand. Why were there so little staffs here? The area is so huge and the keepers here are normally burned out by the time they are done cleaning the cages/enclosures. Other sections had much less work to do but had more keepers on duty, but I feel like this section needed as much help as they can possibly have. I also found out that the bear section is now under the wings of Savannah. Which is worse because they were taking out one man from the already lacking man power here.

I had a talk with a senior keeper here who has been working for more than 30 years in this zoo. He shared his thoughts with me regarding the newer people who come in for work and those who stayed for about ten years and how some that has already left and asked if they could return. The problems that he shared with me got me a little shocked and made me aware of what the real issue was and how it was affecting the welfare of the animals and the keepers here in this zoo. My question is, why couldn't this zoo run like every other zoos in the world?

When visiting Singapore zoo, I could not tell the drastic difference between them and Melbourne Zoo or Australia Zoo. They had well managed facilties and landscape, having both modern and clean feeling of the city feel like another attraction while still maintaining the natural feeling in the enclosures. But in this zoo, you will constantly have visitors complaining about how run down this zoo looks like. How everything looks upgraded and new through the main road from the entrance to the panda exhibition while the smaller sections that requires a little exploring were neglected.

This zoo receives sponsors for their animals too. One example would be the rhinos being sponsored 60 thousand. How much would it take to build a four cell, reinfoced cage thats only made entirely out of cement and metal bars for doors. Food for a year perhaps and an area of enclosure. Is 60 thousand really spent fully on the wellbeing of the 3 rhinoceros in this zoo? I won't know the answer, but I have this question in my head.

I also found out that one of the person of a higher ranked position had no knowledge about animals. And that there was an extra party involved with the money movement of the zoo. I may not have the rights to judge on this, nor do I have the knowledge to comment on this, but I would be curious and be suspicious. Would you not want to know where was your money going?

Almost every animal in Savannah are released into the enclosures. Hold on. There's two oryxes that has long nails. They can't walk properly and the vets were supposed to cut them off. It has been weeks since the oryxes could not walk on its feet and used their front knees to move about instead.

The vets in this zoo were apparently busy attending to the pandas because they were needed to standby for Chinese vets who are about to return home to their mainland.

I am actually angry at how this zoo is treating their animals. The keepers deserves more than they are given now, the animals deserve better treatments.

Zoo Negara #5

Carnivores

Oooh. The days passed so quickly here at the carnivores. Not sure why, but there's a whole lot of chilling here.

Three sections:
Tigers and Lions
Leopards and Seladang
Tapirs and Deers

I guess the hardest work would be the tigers and lions. There's a whipping 13 tigers, 3 white tigers and 4 lions with two lion cubs. The morning starts at 8am, releasing 4 and 2 tigers, 1 white tiger and that loving pair of lions into their separate enclosures. The mother lion stays in cages with her baby cubs as they fear that the babies would not be able to swim and could drown. Once the big cats are moved, their cages get cleaned. Their poo smells horrible! I'd bet it's because of the food they eat, raw meat. The remaining tigers were moved between cages to allow cleaning, no human contact with tigers because well... these big cats will be big cats. Once the cleaning is done, there will be nothing to do up until 4pm where their food will be prepared. The cats gets an average of 6 to 8 kgs of meat per day. They fast on Saturday so that they would be more active on Sunday for the interest of the visitors. It's quite sad I guess. The cages behide are actually really small. They cats are rotated and are given the chance to go out into the enclosure through turns. The cats actually respond to the keepers. When the keepers call them to return to their cages, the cats would listen and walk into their cages. When the cats see the keepers at the front of the enclosure, they would engage with them and would try to chase them.

There's 3 leopards and one black panther. Yes. One of them is really tame, Manja! I was allowed to pat her from outside her cage. She behaves exactly like how a house cat would, waiting to be pampered. :) There isn't much to do here either. Clear the enclosure of leaves, release the cats, scrub their cages, leave. Feeding time is at 4pm. (I swept some bananas from the enclosure, do you suppose they ate bananas? :O but meat will definitely be weighed later for feeding)

Seladang, I the Malaysian water bull. There's only one. Two others had died, so I guess there isn't much to do with this one either. Feeding it with grass and leaves, spraying its enclosure with water.

Deers. There's two types of deers. More than 10 each, couldn't be bothered to count how many there were due to their adorableness. :D They occassionally get knocked up and give birth and their enclosure doesn't have alot of cleaning to do. Their poo are those tiny pellets cause all they eat is grass and leaves. They get fed twice, with bananas, cabbage and some green vegetable (and some honeydew!) for the afternoon feed.

Tapirs. This section only looks after two of the  four tapirs in this zoo. Their poo stinks. I can't figure out why lol. There's nothing much to do for their either, just to feed.

Yesterday was Sunday, the keepers were told to sit outside and watch the visitors. Because there could be cases of silly visitors provoking the animals. Which I happen to see one; he threw rocks at the tigers. The keepers caught him and that idiot said: nono, I didn't do that. I guess thank goodness that they put the keepers up in front and to watch the visitors, otherwise you would never know what kind of stupidity people can come up with which will then harm the animals. Sundays are the days that this zoo gets the most visitors. Shows will run, trams will be full of passengers, any sort of ruckus can happen.

As we sat with the keeper visitor watching, ge shared with us stories about his experiences here in this zoo. There had been tiger cubs born in this zoo. He proceeded talking about the extra hours they have to work whenever there is a birth taking place and more hours needed to be spent keeping an eye on the newborns. Due to the sibling-copulation-birth, there is bound to have some complicants in the cubs. The mother tigers will eat the ones that she didn't seem fit to be taken care of. Once the keepers saw that happening, they would remove the babies from the mothers and raise them on their own. They would stay over in the zoo, making sure to feed the babies every three hours, checking that if they have everything needed for its survival. Which means some of the tigers here are very fond of the keepers. He mentioned that there was one tiger that he used to bring out for walks around the zoo and have photos taken with the visitors. Not sure why did that stop though. I then asked about the lions, and he said thr mothers wouldn't eat the babies, so that was fine.

Another keeper mentioned how he had worked with different sections before working at this section. I asked him, which section did he liked best, he said that it's a difficult one because every section has different experiences. He received a baby giraffe at the savannah section before. He explained how the giraffe babies would fall onto the cement floor and could break it's neck, which was why he was there to catch the falling giraffe baby adding how he got drenched lol.

Yesterday, there was this family I was observing. The daughter who is about 30+ answered her mother's question about whether the tigers can swim. The daughter said that the tigers were afraid of water and it's impossible for tigers to swim. I couldn't stand the fact that she was correcting something that wasn't even true. As the daughter left, I told the mother that this particular tiger actually loves water and it swims occassionally. The mother then asked if I was lying to her. I told her; auntie, I'm working here and I have seen these tigers swim around in the water, why would I lie to you? 

I also returned home to family members having a discussion about how this zoo is lacking and how the people are putting all the collected funds into their own pockets. They also compared this zoo with the zoos in Thailand where it was a safari and what not. They didn't seem interested in listening to what I have to say, felt a little disappointed and just left.

I enjoy my experiences here in this zoo. I don't get paid but I am feeling that these experiences are worth more than what money is worth. I then realised how the general public have different views on animals and it is almost impossible to share thoughts and views with them. They expect entertainment, expect something that will be worth their money spent. Little did they know, the little money they they pay for the entrance fees will all go back to the zoo for maintenance. The amount of food the animals need to eat per day, the amount of water needed for cleaning, the pay for the people who worked their hearts off for the animals. I have not yet met a person who is here for the money, it's all passion and love for the animals. They are fine with the pay. They are happy with their work.

The look on my cousin when she looked at me after I was answering her question regarding my pay for working in this field was disheatening. But you know what makes me happy? Being able to be close to the animals.

Zoo Negara #4

This is actually a rant post about Volunteers that come to supposedly help the workers here. I can sense that they are not used to working hard with such conditions and they probably wouldn't understand the importance of the things they were told to do. For example, they complain that the boots are all worn out and that the water and poo could all get into their feet. Or how the zookeepers are asking the volunteers to help clear the area of leaves and weed, because these hard work could be done by the keepers themselves but these poor volunteers have to do their work for them.

I feel disappointed listening to the volunteers complain. Often, I have a hunch that these people are sort of forced to be volunteers here. I guess that part is sort of understable that they weren't willing in the first place. I wish I could say something.

Dear volunteers, please only volunteer when you really want to. Because you will be spoiling the mood for those who actually have to work hard for their livings. Even if you're dissatisfied about something, keep it in and remain professional. There really isn't any reason for you to make their work any harder when volunteers were meant to make their work easier.

I wish I could instill the bigger picture in the importance of the little things that they do and how much of an impact it could be instead of being fussed and annoyed at that one tiny task.

Zoo Negara #3

Day 3, 4 and 5
Bird section

Since I'm on a speedy track, I have been given 3 days to experience one sector (this gives me the chance to experience as many different sectors possible within 1 month).

My first section was the birds; every living thing in the zoo that has wings, the responsibilities belong to this section.

Their day basically starts at 7am everyday. If they work fast enough, their day could end at 4pm and they are good to go or else they will have to chug through to 5pm. This section has 9 people in total, but there will be at least one person on holiday everyday and they will take turns. Which means there will have to be at least 5 people in this sector to get things done, otherwise everything will just malfunction. There's quite alot to do in this section, mainly cleaning.

Arriving at 7am, there will be two staffs in the kitchen preparing food to be delivered to all the birds in the zoo. Precisely how many cages there are, what kind of birds living in the cages or in the enclosure, what their diet is, these two person in the kitchen must make sure that every bird gets their food. Food that needs to be prepared are chopped fruits (bananas, apples, honeydew, carrots, long beans, papayas), pellets, dog food (I was surprised by this one), bread, mill-worms, nuts, meat and supplement calcium (I think). Their meals have all been modified and some would say these are luxurious meals to the birds because they get all kinds of food they need without moving about. Though I would argue and say that it's sad because the animals have kinda lost their natural animal instinct. My thoughts are that these animals wouldn't be able to survive in the wild. Food preparation is prepared in their own kitchen. The staff here claimed that they are the only section with a kitchen to prepare the food. I'll explain more about this later on. But honestly, it really does look like something you would see in a restaurant with a clear glass between the sitting area and the kitchen that is preparing your meal for you. There will be rows upon rows of aluminium plates on the table and almost all the plates are of different sizes and contains different amount of food on each plate. It is pretty remarkable how the staff remembers which bird eats what and how much food it requires. Because if they miss any one meal out or somehow, this cage of birds will go hungry and things could happen.

By 8am, the food has to be sent out. The remaining staffs of the day would walk into the kitchen and bring out the stacked up plates of food for the birds. It's somewhat like a banquet, somewhat like a grand event dinner taking place and the food comes out of the kitchen at one go. Different staff will be responsible for different areas of this section everyday. This is necessary because there's quite alot.. The bird aviary is ONE section that  is divided into two, and this is where the visitors would walk into and look at birds. But the truth is, there's four more areas at the back that are filled with birds in their cages. I would guess that normal guests walking into the zoos, complaining about why there were so little birds in this zoo. I was shocked to know how many more birds there were at the back. I asked the staff why were there so many birds at the back and why aren't they in front. They say that these birds at the back will be released to the front when the ones in front dies. It is also possible that these breeding really easily too. Hrmmm.. OR it could simply be a reason because there wasn't enough space for all the birds to be in front. I don't know.

At 8am, there will be one person in charge of the kitchen. This person will be working in the kitchen from 8am until 2pm. What this person does is.. chop cabbage, peel bananas, chop carrots, blend carrots, chop more fruits. These preparations were mainly for the morning feed of the next day. Ah. I don't even know how to explain this in words. There's just so much to prepare for the morning feed that it all has to be done the day before. I'd tell you to try imagining that, because that's the best that I could do. I forgotten to take pictures of this because it was too mesmerising LOL. Even the evening feed is only prepared at 3pm for the feed before 4pm, though to be fair, only a small population of the birds require evening feed.

The other staff will be outside working at the enclosures, making sure that the enclosures are leaf-free, removing grass and trees to maintain the enclosures from looking like an absolute jungle that had not been taken care of. This bit was the harder one, because of the labour work that needs to be done under the punishing weather of Malaysia. Though honestly, if I continued reminding myself about how it benefits the animals I really didn't mind doing the work.

At 2pm, it was time to clean the cages. These couple of days that I have been around along with 4 other interns, the staffs had help with cleaning. We probably slowed down the process instead of speeding it up. HAHAHA. You know how you are used to doing something and it becomes a routine, but somebody just pops up to help you; sometimes you just rather not let them help you because you know it will delay things? But oh well, we had to learn and understand the importance of cleaning the cages anyways. Which is good. Step 1: wet the floor with water, this is to ease scrubbing of poo. Step 2: take the brush, brush the food stand and water container. Step 3: rinse the food stand and water container. Step 4: fill the water container with water. Step 5: Scrub the cement floor. Step 6: Hose whatever scrape food that has been messily scattered by the birds (food and poop). Step 7: move on. I lost count of how many cages they were at the back, but there's 3 strips of cages at the back (4, because there's one right behind the 'headquarters' that has two sections, technically one very long strip that is twice the length of other strips), one staff will be allocated to one strip each (except the one behind the hq, one person does both, I don't know why). The aviary doesn't need cleaning, more of sweeping and clearing of tree and plant stuff instead of scrubbing poop.

By 3.30pm, cage cleaning in all the sections should be done. It is now time for the evening feed. Kitchen prep, and food will be pouring out of the kitchen to the respective cages once again. There's 2 section outside of this area that is they are responsible as well: Flamingoes and Storks/Pelicans. The Flamingoes were at this location near the Savannah, which requires one staff to walk all the way there just to feed the Flamingoes. Storks and Pelicans get fed 3 times a day, these are free-roamers in this zoo. The amount of food that is provided to these free-roamers are usually not enough because they are free to roam and free to breed however they like, which means there are more birds than food available. But thankfully they are trained to get their food. At the blow of a whistle or horn, they will fly to the source of the sound and expect food. Pelicans were higher in the priority of attaining food from the staffs, simply because their numbers were much smaller than the storks. So I guess the only bird that still has its natural instincts would be the painted storks that lives in the middle of the lake in Zoo Negara.

I think I've covered everything in the Birds Sector.

No doubt about it, these people are really nice. But the quote to remember from this sector would be 'We don't chase for time, time chases us'. After working 1 day with them, yeah.. I totally agree. They really have to work a whole lot within the short period of time in order to get everything done. There really is alot to be done in this sector.

But as I have already experienced 2 sectors, both were mentioning how their sectors were different from the other in terms of work load.
 'Oh, we've got more work to do. You finish early there right? That's all you do there, right?'
 'It must be boring at that sector, huh?'
NOT PICKING SIDES. Secretly wishing they could exchange workers for a day just so they could just stop saying that kind of things. Part of me feels like these people were working here because it was their best option instead of having a deep passion for animals. But this is me having a point of view.

One of the cockatoo has a bare chest, it didn't have any feather on it. Apparently it was too bored that it started plucking it's own feathers off its own body. Yet there was nothing that could be done, because these workers had their time occupied with work in maintaining the animals living conditions. Yes, the workers love their animals, but they don't have the time, ability nor knowledge to enrich the lives of these caged animals. They know every kind of birds there is in this sector, it is amazing though. But they couldn't relate their body parts that links to the lifestyle of the birds, they could only tell why because of what they were taught to do. Life in the zoo, is routine.

Next sector: Carnivores.
'Don't get eaten, please?'

Zoo Negara #2

Day 2

Day after day, I feel like I have more to learn and love about the zoo. Today, I stared at a family of hippos in their enclosure for about half and hour and another half an hour at the savannah animals. Add twenty minutes to pandas and that sums up my day after 1pm til end of my shift at 4pm. You know what's adorable? The baby hippo was attempting to play with its father, biting on the father's mouth. Thr father then did some fancy mouth movement that made the water splash back at its young one. Not sure if it was out of annoyance, telling the kid to stop or amusement, entertaining the baby. :)

Day 2 was pretty casual for me as it's a Monday and it was the first day for a group of other interns. 15 from University of Sarawak (UniMAS), one from University Malaya and one from University of Terengganu. So i followed the group and had an orientation today and had the rest of the afternoon off until it was time to stamp off.

I am the odd one with only 1 month internship as the rest had 3 and it was compulsory for them to have a placement experience before they graduate. Dear monash, I'd wish I had better guidance in this. These students had thesis papers to write and probably had the chance to do more units than I did. All I had was: Animal Diversity and Animal Physiology. It is actually possible that I have more information crammed into one semester, but I doubt it would be any more than what these other interns were doing.

Everyone of the staff in Zoo Negara are like family. It's a really nice feeling to have. The supervisor was superb as she and her assistant sat down with me to have a conversation of my purpose here as an intern. As mentioned, my case was sort of different because I applied and came here for my own benefit in wanting to gain experience. But for the rest, it was a requirement for their course whilw mine wasn't. My supervisor asked me where I or what am I aiming for after this internship was done. Me being clueless, I told her: ultimately, get a job as a zookeeper in an Australian zoo. Then I proceeded in explaining my rough plan towards that goal.

It turns out that it was definitely not easy getting a chance to work with the zoos there. Reasons unknown, but she shared with me about how this had happened before in the past where about three students asked for recommendations/testimonials from her in regards to experiences. It was then that I realised how I had no idea what I was supposed to do after I graduated. Thank god for that urge in wanting to get a placement here at Zoo Negara!

She helped me plan my month, trying to make sure I had enough experience rotating between different sections. She was also very kind in wanting to give me extra holidays that I don't think I should have because of the short period of time. She and her assistant also urged me to have testimonials from them during my last week here as an intern so that I have something to bring with me afterwards.

Ahh. I don't know how to explain my feelings in words. It feels like words will not be enough to justify my thoughts about the zoo and everything in it!

 Honestly, the zoo has to go in a routinely manner because it is what and how the animals are trained and are used to. If things were to change, it had to be slow and subtle for in could stress the animal out otherwise. Mornings in the zoo are the liveliest times because this is when they are released from their cages at the back of the enclosures and they get to eat whatever that is being fed to them.

The spotted storks (not sure if I got it right, its the other stork that isn't milky at this zoo) were trained to listen to the lorry honk where it knows it will get to eat fish that is provided by the zookeepers. These storks roam freely in the zoo, so when the zookeeper is ready to feed them, they will honk a couple of times and you'll be able to see storks flying in from all over towards that one spot.

You'll normally see animals sleeping in the afternoon and I would say it's because of the weather and there isn't anything else for the animals to do. It's pretty sad, at least to me. Because these animals are kept in captive and live that sort of life. This could be argued though, that they are living the life because they have nothing to worry about. I would always look at the animals and wondered how I would feel if I were them. Honestly it calms me to know that the animals aren't living in cruelty of humans and they are in the hands of good people.

Passion for something doesn't come as you wish. It's just there in your heart and when you see it, you know that it is it. No matter what you do, it will be something that will drive you there regardless.

I love talking to the staffs here. Because I know that they love their job and that they truly care for their animals.

Normal people won't get it.

But we won't give up. The littlest information we can share with you, we will share it with joy.

HAHAHA. I fed carrots to a rhinoceros! I feel so lucky! I still can't believe it. The last special moment I had was when I was younger, I touched the back of a green turtle while it was swimming in the ocean. :D I fed giraffes too. But I paid for that. That's different though. Doesn't mean it didn't give me a tingling feeling afterwards. HEHE.

Ok. I need to stop babbling. Toodle loo!

Ps. The traffic to work and home is horrible. URGH.

Zoo Negara #1

Day 1

Sunday morning, leave home at 6.55am, reach destination at 7.30am. There wasn't traffic so I guess I was lucky in that sense. But its Sunday anyways. Its expected..

Supervisor was on leave, so I ended up at a volunteer! Today's area: Savannah.

Only manned by 4 guys. Divided into two section; hooves and african animals. But we had quite a number of volunteers today, so they did most of the work alongside the zookeepers. I'd call them zookeepers, because they look after the animals of their sections. That's what zookeepers do right?

Cleaning poo is absolutely necessary. Because it prevents the animals from falling ill as bacteria could take homage in their poo. Cleaning their enclosures are definitely necessary. It's like how humans would prefer living in their houses, clean. Also because these animals can't move to different location from time to time, their 'home' has to be cleaned.

Feeding them is the fun bit though. I worked at the hooves section today and I had to scoop poop and sweep enclosures while the zookeepers hose down necessary stuff, refill their water bowl and attend to animals that are injured. They get fed twice though. Once with pallets and once more with grass and leaves after everything is cleaned. Them animals were happy to eat. :) I'd like to know if its the optimum amount of food to be given to them though.

Also the zookeepers seems to have much more to do. They were nice and gave me a long lunch break today. Hrmmmm. I wonder what else we could be doing later at 2pm until closing.

The staff here are all friendly and lovely. My bahasa has gotten rusty and it takes me some time to figure out what I would want to say. I feel like everybody aort of knows everybody. :)

There was one playful cow I encountered today. I'd thought it would just mind its own business but it came and gave me a bump on my bum as I was waiting for the volunteer to put the scooped poo into the bag (which was on that rickshaw? That one wheeled thing where it helps you to carry/push things around?). Thank goodness it was only a small push, might have a little bruise but eh. All good! :)

Oh. Zoo Negara is private company owned while the panda enclosure is owned by the government. Which means, I don't think I will have any interactions with the pandas. Even to have a look at them, I have to pay an entrance fees. :(

This zoo just turned 50 years old a couple of days ago. Maybe thats the reason that the ecstatics were not as appealing when compared to zoos that I've visited elsewhere. They are upgrading some stuffs here and there, but I guess it's because we already have the animals here and that we have a functionable structure, tearing it down and rebuilding a new one would be too much. Hrmm...

Can't wait to get home and have a cold shower. Hehe

After lunch wasn't much. Think it was because we finished everything with the help of the volunteers by lunch! Hoorei.

** after lunch

Fed the rhinoceros, prepped food for giraffes.. that was about it. We walked to the bear area. Not sure what for, but there were only 2 people in charge. It had 6 cells for the bears, maybe 4. Not sure how it was structured but I saw one bear pretty up close. :)

People say: what kind of zoo is this? All the animals are sleeping.

What would you be doing if you are living your ordinary life and people would walk pass your windows everyday and just staring at you to get your attention?

I wonder what tomorrow would be like.

***I apologise for the formality, wasn't planning to make this a proper thing by the end of day 5. lol. <3