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Dugong rescue action |
| Posted by Owen Tap (owen) on Saturday, 11th December, 2010 |
| News & Specials >> News |
Dear friends,
Since 1 December we have adopted a baby dugong, which we named Biung. The name Biung is a Toraja word for a child without mother. Based on information from a fisherman the baby dugong was approximately 2 months old when we adopted her, which means she was born on, or around 30 September 2010. Biung is a female baby dugong and she got trapped on 10 November 2010.
We worked together with the government of the Bolaang Mongondow Utara district (which is around 9 hours drive away from Likupang) in (North Sulawesi), to try and get Biung reunited with her mom. After 3 weeks of trying we abandoned hope of finding the mom at which time the government asked us to adopt Biung. They asked us for this because they currently do not have the facilities, or the means to properly take care of a baby dugong.
The reasons for abandoning the attempt to reunite Biung with her mom were:
- Biung started to get very weak, do to lack of proper milk and care.
- Biung was getting distressed because she was continually lifted out of the water and touched and poked throughout the day.
- Locals tried to get the tears of Biung because they believe it brings them good luck.
- We received word that a fisherman from a neighbouring area captured and eat a adult female dugong approximately two weeks after Biung was caught.
During the three weeks of trying we had several meetings with the authorities to do some advocacy for the sake of the baby dugong (we talked to the Bupati, head of the district, and all the department heads, plus the water police). Eventually everybody present during the meetings agreed that the baby dugong had to be saved. And in order to give the baby dugong the best chance of survival the government decided that Biung had to be evacuated to our place on Bangka (at least temporarily). We now have to take care of Biung until she is ready to go back into the wild.
The above means that we now have the responsibility to take care of Biung until she is at least 18 months old. This is of course a huge undertaking, so any and all help is welcome!
- If you have, or find information about Dugongs or how to take care of them, please send it to us.
- If you want to volunteer to take care of Biung, or know somebody who is interested in this, please let us know.
- If you want to help us provide environmental education in the area where Biung was caught, please let us know.
We can give volunteers free accommodation and food.
You can also support us by becoming a donator for this programme. With your support we can provide enough milk to Biung, get volunteers, and educate the people about conserving the underwater environment.
Latest information
After one week with us Biung’s condition is getting much better. She drinks four to five cans of milk every day, is getting much stronger, and starts to become more active. She already gained 4 kg since she arrived with us. Also the wounds that she incurred due to the rope with which she was tight up are healing nicely.
For temporary we put Biung in a keramba, a floating house with net underneath, that is normally used to grow fish. At the same time we started to make a proper salt water pool for Biung so she has more space and we can take care of her better.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Take care and warm regards from us.
Ocean, Ulva & Owen
Last changed: Saturday, 18th December, 2010 at 22:29
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| donate? | By Guest on Wednesday, 12th January, 2011 at 12:17 |
| We would like to donate. How do we do that? We're in the U.S. e-mail me at snowfallinchina(at)mac(dot)com | |
| Volunteering With Biung | By Guest on Friday, 11th February, 2011 at 22:03 |
| Hi All, My Partner and I are coming to Sulawesi in August and would love to help out with Biung. Please send all details to ally_17uk(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk. Many Thanks Alison |
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