thats cool man although i was unaware that it ever was 'unfurnished'
i hope that Indonesia releases some more animals to invigorate the western zoo gene pool.
if any animals can be obtained we will need them here in Australia. with very few bloodlines in Australia and most of them represented internationally the importation of new stock will be a tricky situation. the future of this program is closely tied to the acquisition of new stock, both regionally and internationally.
on another note, if this does not occur which would be incredibly worrying given the species precarious wild status it would be annoying if the Silvery Gibbon program was rolled back in this country, as, (and rightly so) space was made for this critically endangered species costing us other primate species.
I agree with you all that Australia and other regions now require new genetically unrelated founders for their individual breeding programmes and that it would be for the benefit of this endangered great ape species.
What most fail to realise and which I have underlined all the time is the issue of reciprocity. The Indonesians are not keen to release any moloch gibbons if the international community does not provide assistance or funding for the dire situation for the species in situ and equally by improve captive-conditions and breeding prospects in Indonesia's PKBSI zoos in return.
More zoos - also those in Australia (apart from Perth Zoo) - should acknowledge much more needs to be done in situ for which outside funding is required to kickstart things and could be gained if "western" zoos are seen to support zoos in cash-strapped nations like Indonesia (where consequently the issue of poverty is closely linked to in situ environmental destruction - which also is driven by aka UK, US, EU, Australia and Japan.
A good example of real reciprocal cooperation has been the setting up of the Schmutzer Center at Ragunan Zoo, Jakarta by the John Aspinall Foundation (in return Port Lympne received banded langurs and several other species that are now part of internationally acclaimed breeding programmes). JAF still has a presence at Schmutzer and is currently involved in relocation of some surplus Moloch gibbons back to Port Lympne.
I know of the ARAZPA endorsed project Silvery Gibbon at the Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park site for rehabilitation and captive-breeding of Moloch gibbons which was set up by the late curator Reg Gates of Perth Zoo. The center is fully staffed by Indonesian animal care keepers and a curator. Recently, the center has been relocated and currently their is a desperate need for funds to construct a state of the art holding and breeding facility to house the current Molochs and a larger number of Molochs to be absorbed into the center.
I think realistically Indonesia will only provide foreign zoos with captive-bred specimens as part of an MoU like is happening with Phillipines endangered fauna using animals from this facility, the Schmutzer Center (wild caught specimens) and the Taman Safari, Bogor facility for gibbons.
Cashwise it is not that hard and really only $10,000 would simply hold the entire programme together! So, come on ... visit the site
The Silvery Gibbon Project | Adoptions and adopt 1 gibbon yourself. For just $75,00! you are doing something extremely
and the money is well spent!
