Nature

From Poaching to Pandemics: The True Cost of the Wildlife Trade

Orangutans in a rehabilitation program at Matang Wildlife Centre, Borneo. 2017.

Orangutans in a rehabilitation program at Matang Wildlife Centre, Borneo. 2017.

Today, humans have greater access to exotic animals than ever before. A quick Internet search yields any manner of species and their parts for purchase. In the tourism sector where personal encounters with some the world’s most elusive creatures abound, riding elephants, swimming with dolphins, and petting tiger cubs are commonplace attractions. Globalization, factory farming, biodiversity and habitat loss have compounded the issue, creating new opportunities for people and animals to meet in unlikely places; from panthers and coyotes roaming crowded cities, to food markets and pet expos crammed with fauna that would never cross paths in nature, producing the perfect environment for pathogens.

This is how the novel Coronavirus has come to be.

A zoonotic disease originating in animals, COVID-19 is believed to have spread to humans from a pangolin infected by a bat at a wet market in Wuhan, China, where caged exotic and domestic animals waited side by side for sale and slaughter.

Though pangolins are one of the most widely trafficked animals on Earth, making them a poster child in the crusade against the illegal wildlife trade – the fourth most lucrative black market in the world – not all are wild caught. Some are raised in captivity for use in cuisine and traditional medicines in Asia. Regardless of where such animals are obtained, how they are treated has immense consequences.

Scientists cautioned us for years about the imminent threat of a global pandemic and its likely link to animal exploitation, evidenced by previous outbreaks of zoonotic diseases like HIV, Ebola, H5N1, SARS, and others. In 2017, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that 75% of “new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals.”

When COVID-19 was connected to a live animal market in Wuhan, China responded by banning the trade and consumption of wildlife in an effort to control the virus. Despite reports that the industry has already gone underground, the legislation is a significant step in the right direction. Yet we must also acknowledge that humanity’s appetite for wildlife extends beyond the plate.

In the United States, our cultural addiction to rare beasts is exemplified by the booming exotic pet trade, a largely legalized and under regulated economy enabling average citizens to purchase animals like alligators, tigers, wolfdogs and apes. Our social acceptance of these loose laws only increases the likelihood of ownership, abuse, poaching, ecosystem degradation, and infectious disease.

Curbing the $23 billion illegal wildlife trade is critical to the survival of many threatened animals and ecosystems, but we should be equally concerned with the astonishingly pervasive legal trade in wildlife and its impacts on environmental and human health, as well as the global economy.

According to a recent World Wildlife Fund report, failure to urgently address the environmental crisis will result in a $10 trillion global loss by 2050, with the United States projected to lose up to $83 million in GDP annually by that year: the largest of all losses. Alternatively, a 2018 report by the same agency revealed that nature is worth an estimated $125 trillion annually, and is the foundation supporting all economic activity. Of course, nature is truly priceless, but such reports make the choice clear: protecting our planet’s incredible diversity is also the one that safeguards our economies, countries, and species.

The Coronavirus may be a grim reminder of humanity’s unchecked entitlement to the natural world, but it is also a valuable teacher – if we are willing to learn.

Boundaries – What the Animals Teach

My New Essay in The Hopper Magazine

The+Hopper+Jaw+Pressure+Nikki+Kolb

This was the title of an article I was writing the morning I was bit by one of the wolf sanctuary’s rescues, just weeks before our two years of working with captive-bred wild canines would come to a close. And while the incident was both entirely out of the ordinary and also my fault, it was nonetheless emblematic of some of the loudest lessons learned during my time there.

Working with wolves taught me the importance of conscious attention, respect for boundaries, and to reject complacency in my inner and outer world.

My essay “Jaw Pressure” published in Issue IV of The Hopper (in print!) describes what can happen when humanity violates nature’s boundaries and underestimates its wildness.

We are living in an age where the rampant disrespect of human and wild life is being challenged on a global scale. Human rights, animal rights, and environmental justice are some of the most important issues of our times. With that in mind, “Jaw Pressure” also explores the link between violated boundaries and domestication, whether self-inflicted or imposed, and how we might overcome these trappings by reconnecting with wilderness, and in so doing, our true selves.

You can get ahold of my essay and the other great stories, art and poems in The Hopper here.

Orangutan Sanctuary: Visiting Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, Borneo

The allure of seeing orangutans in their natural habitat draws visitors from all over the world to Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, a nature reserve just 20 kilometers south of Kuching City in Sarawak, Borneo. Open all year round, the Centre is home to a colony of semi-wild orangutans and is the ideal place to spot this incredibly rare, shy and endangered species in the jungle. Started in 1975 as a sanctuary for orangutans that were injured, orphaned, or illegally kept as pets, today Semenggoh is the largest orangutan rehabilitation center in Sarawak. The Centre offers visiting hours twice a day during which guests can watch the orangutans descend from the treetops to feed. 

A BRIEF HISTORY

With their name meaning ‘people of the forest,’ orangutans only exist in two places in the world: the lush jungles of Borneo and Sumatra. Tragically, deforestation, human encroachment and habitat loss continue to threaten these amazing creatures with extinction. Semenggoh Wildlife Centre exists to conserve these animals and their habitat, while educating the public about the orangutan and their need for protection. 

Run by Sarawak Forestry, Semenggoh boasts a rehabilitation program that has been so successful there are now three generations of orangutans living in the reserve. Beginning with just 11 animals in the 1970s, each rescued between the ages of 1 and 5, the sanctuary now has nearly 30 healthy adolescent and young-adult orangutans living in a population that is so strong the park cannot introduce any more outsiders. The rehabilitation program has since moved to Matang Wildlife Centre in nearby Kubah National Park.

During their rehabilitation, the orangutans undergo training to allow for their eventual release and subsequent independence in the wild. Though they spend most of their time in the jungle, they are also trained to return to the Centre during feeding times when they can receive a free meal, as needed. Since the reserve cannot supply enough wild food for all its inhabitants, the Centre offers feedings to supplement the orangutans diet. While orangutans primarily eat fruit, they also forage for bark, honey, insects, young shoots, and occasionally bird eggs and small vertebrae. During feedings, the Centre offers bananas, sweet potatoes, coconut, papayas, pineapples, sugar cane and hard-boiled eggs.

VISITING

The best time to view the orangutans is outside of the fruiting season, which lasts from November to March, when the animals may not venture back to the Centre to feed. We visited in May, which turned out to be perfect.

The Centre is open twice a day: from 8 – 10 AM and 2 – 4 PM. This is to limit potential contact between humans and orangutans. Feedings occur from 9 – 10 AM and 3 – 4 PM. The entrance fee is about $2.50/person for foreign adults. Pro Tip: Your ticket can be used for the entire day, making it ideal to visit in the morning so that if the orangutans don’t show up for breakfast, you can come back in the afternoon for a second try.

Semenggoh is a 30 – 40 minute drive from Kuching City and is accessible by public transit. We began our morning early, but not early enough to make the 7:15 AM bus, and instead opted for an Uber ($5) which got us to the Centre 20 minutes before feeding time. On the way back, we took the bus.

Upon arrival we purchased our tickets at the main gate and walked down the long road to a small gift shop and information center housing photos and bios of each of the orangutans living in the reserve. After a quick look around, we wandered on toward the viewing platform and found a roped off path leading to the feeding area where we waited in front of a sign reading ‘Sarawak Forestry.’ Shortly after, our guide for the morning, Dominic, appeared and addressed our large crowd of about 40 people.

Dominic advised the group about safety – no eating or drinking, no flash photography, and to stay 20 feet from the orangutans at all times, and of course, to remain quiet. After the introduction we ventured down a short trail to the feeding area and secured ourselves a spot directly in front of the feeding platform surrounded by dense jungle. A staff member tossed bananas onto the platform before calling to the orangutans in a melodic tone that sounded like “aaaoooo!” several times. 

Then the mesmerizing happened: the trees began moving in the distance, limbs shook and swayed until we caught a glimpse of some large orange bodies shifting through the canopy. Two sisters born in the park, each with their baby, descended long ropes to the platform to gather bananas. The ropes allow the orangutans to swiftly and easily access the feeding platform and return to the trees to eat, rather than having to move from tree to tree to get there and back. This also provides visitors with great viewing and photo opportunities. We saw Analisa, the first orangutan to be born in the park, and her young baby, and Saddamiah with her 3 year old, Ruby.

The orangutans moved deftly and quickly through the trees, at once strong, fluid and incredibly acrobatic. It was an immense joy to see them traveling through the jungle, so close to us, yet at a safe distance. Once happily fed, the orangutans departed, disappearing back into the thick forest. In all, we saw them for about 30 – 40 minutes.

By the end of the hour, only a dozen or so spectators remained. At that point, our guide, Dominic, shared with us which orangutans we had seen along with their ages, all information we wouldn’t have known had we left early.

While park staff is eager to usher everyone out after feeding, the reserve is also home to a botanical garden, a crocodile habitat, and other rare animals including the giant squirrel, pigmy squirrel, gibbons and a variety of birds. Those who arrive early may have a chance to spot some of the other flora and fauna the sanctuary has to offer.

ENJOY YOUR VISIT!

Having a chance to view orangutans in the wild was an incredible experience, and one we will never forget. Their grace and majesty is truly awesome to behold. We highly recommend a visit to Semenggoh Wildlife Centre where each ticket sold helps support orangutan conservation.

Visiting: Ta Prohm, Cambodia

Siem Reap

Roaming the temple complex of Ta Prohm makes you feel like an old world explorer whose come upon this ancient site while trekking through the jungle. Around every corner, through every doorway and down every hall you find the duality of growth and decay. Enormous silk cotton ceiba trees emerge from the walls and roofs of temples, wrapping their roots around something that once was. Piles of rubble decorated with intricate carvings lay beside edifices both destroyed and reconstructed, withstanding the test of time.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TA PROHM

On the outskirts of modern day Siem Reap, Ta Prohm was built in the late 12th and early 13th centuries under King Jayavarman VII as a Buddhist monastery and university dedicated to his mother. Though many of the temples of Angkor were built in the ‘temple pyramid’ or ‘temple mountain’ style, such as Angkor Wat, Bayon, and Pre Rup, Ta Prohm was built in a flat style: a series of five rectangular nesting walls enclose a central inner sanctuary.

Also unlike most of the temples of Angkor, Ta Prohm has been left much in the condition in which it was found by westerners in the 1800s due to the magic of how it has merged with the jungle over time. The site has been conserved and restored by both the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient, and the Archaeological Survey of India. The temple was famously used in the film Tomb Raider in 2001, returning it to the international spotlight and cultivating mass appeal.

Consequently, it is one of the most visited temples of Angkor due to its awe-inspiring setting. Surrounded by jungle, the crumbling temples have literally grown trees, giving visitors the feeling they are discovering a hidden treasure.

Like all of the popular Angkorian archeological sites, expect to see many other tourists, but know there are also plenty of opportunities to find yourself alone as you wander these magnificent ruins.

ENJOY YOUR VISIT!

Ta Prohm evoked something deep in our core. It reminded us of the simultaneous transience and timelessness of life, to enjoy what we have, to be present and grateful for the ability to travel across the world and stand in the heart of such a potent site, a place that one day, like all things, will return to its source.

 

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