After conducting the presentation and also done with the reflection report, finally its the day we have to conduct our field work, where we all went to the zoo together. Jane and I were driving on that day, while Stephanie drove alone to the zoo. We met our other group members at BAC, so that it would be convenient for those who commuting with the KTM. We planned to meet each other at 6:30am so that we all would have sufficient time to travel, and also to have our breakfast. However, our plan does not go as how we wished, where the traffic was terrible, and we were stuck in the traffic for some time.
Despite the traffic, we still managed to get to the zoo slightly before 8am. We bought some nasi lemak outside the zoo as our breakfast. Then, we hurried into the education department of the zoo to fill in some form. Unfortunately, one of our member, Wenni, could not make it on that day due to some issues. Therefore, only nine of us left and we all have to register ourselves as individual volunteer. Briefing was then conducted by one of the zoo keeper, and then we headed of to work.
We were all separated after the briefing. I was asked to go to the ape centre, where I met a new friend there. Other members were being asked to different departments such as the bear centre and also the mammals departments, where they took care of horses, giraffes and also the tapir.
The moment I walked into the ape centre, the smell was horrifying. The smell of ammonia gushed out the moment our zoo keeper opened the door. The ape centre wasn't as what I have imagined. I thought it would not only be a nice, but also free place for the apes to stay, where they would be showered with love by the zoo keepers as what was shown on the TV. However, the reality was real bad in my opinion. The cages are filthy, smelly and the apes looked sick. They were not well groomed, and they looked miserable.
There was a timetable there, indicating which ape would be able to ‘hang out’, where the ape would have a chance to be ‘released’ out to see the tourist. For me, the ‘hanging out’ session is equally torturous where they would just be released into a larger cage than what they have been staying in. In fact, much more spacious. I felt really sad for the other apes who didn't get to ‘hang out’, where their cages are unreasonably small compared to their huge body size. The cage is tall, but not wide. I guess the tall cage is meant for the apes to climb, as that is their nature. Besides that, the cage was really small.
I was told to clean a few cages with the new friend I’ve met there, Ke Xian. First, we were given lidi to sweep the faeces, then we run it through with clean water to make sure that the faeces are all flushed away. Then detergent was applied and the water was ran through again. Finally, a clean cage would came out as a result. Those are no hard work as the cage was relatively small and despite the smell, the faeces was really nothing. It looked exactly like human faeces. Not too gross in my opinion.
We were also asked to cut some fruits and vegetables for the apes before we headed out for lunch. Their food consist mainly of long bean, papaya, banana and some other tropical fruits depending on the availability. Some of the fruits are spoiled, but the zoo keeper insist us to cut it out for the apes. I felt really bad doing so as it is really too ‘unhumanly’ to treat them in this way. I have learnt that, due to limited budget, they could not afford to waste anything provided to them. To feed the animals, and also to give them a basic maintenance are no easy job, also it is fairly expensive to do so.
We were allowed to walk around in the ape centre, taking a few pictures during our tea break. I did not wander a lot, but instead talked to my new friend. The zoo keeper was kind of ‘cool’, where he did not really wanted to join our conversation despite us inviting him all the time. Time passed relatively slow as we have got not much to do in the ape centre.
During lunch, the group reunited. We went to the restaurant in the zoo to have something light as there was not much choice available. There, we spent two hours exchanging our views, also sharing our experience in different departments of the zoo. From that, I have came to realised that, other animals’ cages are not locked with a lock. In fact, their’s were just loosely closed. According to my members, the animals will not escape from the cage as long as the cage is closed. However, for the ape centre, all cages are being locked and closed properly, where it could be seen that the apes are really the smartest of all, where they could figure out how to unlock the simple lock.
After our lunch time, it is time for the apes to eat. Food were divided into respective buckets with the name of the apes written. Food were given one by one, as in, we placed the food into the hole present on the door of the cage, and the apes would all grab hold on it, putting into their mouth. That was indeed a fun experience feeding them, despite feeling a little sad for them.
The volunteer job then ended with some other day stuff where we were asked to cut some more fruits and vegetables for the next meal, accompanied with some feeding session. That was a fun experience, where the apes actually played with us and we managed to prompt them for some small tricks in order to get their food.
The overall experience of the field work was great, where this was one of the unforgettable experience in life. I feel real sad for the animals there as they have lost their freedom. There are contrary views forming in my heart, where one side of my heart thinks that zoo is not suppose to even exist; however another side of my heart sided the existence of zoo, where animals could get a better protection. From the field work, I would share more to my other friend who could not make it because the zoo really needed to be seen in another way other than mere visit. Seeing the zoo in such perspective made me think more and came to realise how badly maintained the animals are. We wished to encourage more people to participate in the volunteering work so that people could also get a first hand experience on how to take care of the animals, also to learn how to see things in a different perspective, breaking the myth that the zoo is over charging for nothing. The zoo really needed to be maintained, so that they could provide the animals with a better shelter to compensate the price of them losing their freedom.
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