Zoo Tycoon in Real Life

As I mentioned in my last post, the bulk of our time in Malaysia was spent “voluntouring” at an orangutan rehabilitation facility called Matang Wildlife Center. The location contributed immeasurably to our biodiversity class, which turned out to be one of the most unconventional and valuable educational experiences I’ve ever had. Traditional class sessions were held in an auditorium on the center’s property, where we heard lectures from the manager, Leo Biddle. Everything he said was fascinating, maybe partly because I am an Environmental Policy and Decision Making minor at school. But most of it had to do with Leo. He is an amazingly hardworking, committed, resilient and good-natured guy, and the improvements he as made at Matang and for Malaysian orang conservation are impressive. Unfortunately, I predict that they are likely to go unnoticed. I have a bit of an intellectual crush on him, if you can’t tell.

He is about 6’3’’, and he always strides around in these dark wife beaters with cargo pants tucked into his work boots. He is from the UK, and his accent totally added to the mystique. I would say 95% of the work he does is above and beyond is job description. I quickly learned that Leo regularly adopts the role of nurse, accountant, animal handler, lecturer, tour guide, indigenous advocate, architect and construction worker, business manager, rehabilitator, diplomat, and rogue wildlife conservationist. There is little this man doesn’t do. And I was struck by how empathetic and levelheaded he was. I would assume that someone with enough courage and passion to work in such a high-stress field would have a few screws loose. But he was the coolest and I could have listened to him speak all day.

It was the relationships we made with Leo and the other staff members at the center that defined the month for me. I physically achieved so much more than I thought I would be able to, and I know it was because of the supportiveness and commitment of the group. Life was uncomfortable for a while, and the work was no joke. But the tough circumstances brought us closer. There was so much happiness and esteem between us all. It strikes me that perhaps it is the close relationships and sense of community that this harsh environment cultivates that compels people like Leo and Tasha (Matang's project manager) to keep going despite the immense difficulty. It was a lot like summer camp actually...or what I imagine summer camp to be like. 

In the middle is Tasha, project manager for
Matang and, as we later learned, Leo's love interest.

A career as an orangutan rehabilitator and conservation advocate in Malaysia today is almost comically difficult. The climate alone would be enough to send most people packing. There are very few recreational comforts here. Not only is it incredibly physically demanding, but the situation for orangutans is so dire and moving in such a negative direction that it seems like a miracle that anyone would voluntarily enter the fight for the species. Government corruption, lack of public support and constant criticism would make the job unbearable for me. Seeing the way these barriers played out in the field was incredibly eye opening. I respect and admire the Matang staff immensely.

Learning about conservation and environmental policy at school brought me to conclusions far different from those that developed after my work in the field. Before we made it to Malaysia, I assumed that rehab and rainforest protection were just as much a priority for Malaysians as they are for westerners. This is far from the case. I assumed knowledge about conservation and biodiversity would be inherent here, and I didn’t expect there to be such a high degree of international influence propelling conservation efforts. I found there to be a surprising lack of understanding about the importance and uniqueness of tropical rainforests amongst the Malaysian people. There is an unfortunate lack of initiative as well. This creates an interesting dynamic between the locals and the environmental activists from the west. Scientists and academics from our part of the world are the ones with the knowledge about Borneo and the strong environmental values. But even though the forests are alarmingly unhealthy and rapidly deteriorating, what right do westerners have to influence the way Malaysians treat their natural resources? After all, we have done a fine job of exploiting our own forests for the sake of economic development. Who are we to advise anyone else? Sorry if this is getting too academic. I just finished writing a paper on this stuff so it’s fresh in my mind.

I wasn’t expecting to adopt so much sympathy for the Malaysian government, but through our experiences at the center, I began to understand the difficulty of being in charge of a region that is so contested and valuable internationally. Yes, the Malaysian government is corrupt and hypocritical in many ways, but they must balance pressure from countless powerful stakeholders, all while keeping the economic interests of their people at the forefront. It is no wonder bribery and lack of enforcement is so rampant. On the ground, people like Leo and Tasha are like rogue superheroes, doing what they believe is right often in unorthodox and unattractive ways, all the while evading prosecution from the unsupportive government. Relationships and loyalty are crucial to their success as well.

The actual volunteer work was possibly the hardest part of the trip so far, but also (and perhaps as a result) the most rewarding and fun. I wish I had time to go into more detail about everything I did and saw, but unfortunately I just don’t have time to write it all. Instead, I’ve made a list of some of the coolest things I did at work:

• Climbed the tallest orangutan play structure in the world to hide food for the adult females.
• Scrubbed down 12+ indoor orang cages.
• Stared into the eyes of a 80 kilo., fully grown male orangutan. These things are terrifying. And the horror stories we heard were intense.
• Stained and prepared dozens of 2x4in. wooden planks for a ranger station being built deep in the forest.
• Carried these 2x4s through the forest, on my back, over a freshly machete-ed path. Yep.
• Later in the week, carried 4x4s across an even more difficult trail.
• Shoveled 25lb. of gravel into burlap sacks and carried these sacks up rickety, wet wooden steps into the forest to lay gravel around an orangutan feeding platform.
• Dug trenches and mixed/laid concrete tunnels for an outdoor porcupine enclosure.
• Climbed trees and hid sunflower seeds as an “enrichment activity” for sun bears in their outdoor enclosure.

There was no instruction manual for these things, and the ability to improvise and roll with the punches was crucial. Our projects seemed crude, but were nonetheless critical to the center. I learned to value a good attitude and a strong work ethic in my peers; even the hardest days were enjoyable when I had a fun, committed group.

In case you were wondering, we were made aware of the risk of injury and death involved in everything we did, and we were required to sign plenty of liability forms. Unfortunately, a lot of us did get hurt at some point. Take a look:

I wish I could say I got these battling an adult orang or carrying lumber through the jungle, but I cant. To be honest, I tripped walking down a wooden walkway outside our longhouse. Embarrassing. But I will have an impressive scar.

It has been a rough month on my skin too. I have been known to have mysterious allergic reactions even in normal living conditions. 80+ degree weather and constant humidity didn’t do me much good. I have become accustomed to some new smells too; sweat mixed with mildew. My standards of clean laundry have gone WAY down. We had no laundry facilities, so it was hand washing all the way. It’s pretty relaxing actually. But when it rains nearly every day and the air is constantly thick with moisture, nothing ever dries. So even when your clothes are theoretically “clean” they still smell like mildew. Absence of B.O. has come to be the one and only definition of clean.

Only after we left the center did I learn that we were the largest volunteer group Matang had ever had. They admitted that they were a bit apprehensive about inviting us, but more than a few tears were shed as our bus drove away L.

Anna :) Probably my favorite picture of the trip.