A joint team from the West Java Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BBKSDA) and our partners IAR Indonesia (YIARI) released 10 Javan slow lorises (Nycticebus javanicus) after rehabilitation in the Gunung Simpang Nature Reserve (CAGS) area, in Cianjur, West Java, on Thursday 12 April 2023.
The ten slow lorises consisted of four females named Waltz, Ndalu, Lingsir and Yumi, and six males named Sabbath, Utha, Satro, Talik, Brodi and Monet. These slow lorises were handed over by residents to the West Java BBKSDA from various areas in West Java throughout 2022. Then they were entrusted to YIARI’s primate rehabilitation center in Ciapus, Bogor Regency, West Java to undergo medical treatment and rehabilitation before being returned to their natural habitat.
The wild release location in the Gunung Simpang Nature Reserve was determined after a survey process for several months. This area of ± 15,000 hectares is considered to meet the required habitat characteristics in the form of primary and secondary forest. The area has abundant food availability, such as puspa plants (Schima wallichii), bubuway/hoe badag (Plectocomia elongata), herbaceous plants and other saplings as well as insects, reptiles and small birds which are also food for slow lorises. Low levels of threat and disturbance and release locations far from settlements minimise conflicts between humans and wild animals. Coupled with the socio-cultural conditions, the people who live adjacent to the area already have an awareness of the importance of keeping slow lorises, making the area suitable as a release location.
The release point, which is about 111 kilometres from the YIARI Rehabilitation Centre in Bogor, is reached by car for approximately 4 hours and on foot for a further hour.
Six days before the wild release (7-11 April 2023), the YIARI team built a habituation cage that serves as a means of adaptation for the slow lorises in a new location. The habituation cages are in the form of five areas of forest measuring 3x3x2 metres which are fenced temporarily. The slow lorises to be released then undergo a habituation process for four to five days in the CAGS area under the supervision of the YIARI Survey, Release and Monitoring team who observe the behaviour and health of all the slow lorises. If they have adapted well to their new environment, they are released from the habituation cage into the wild.
The Head of the West Java BBKSDA, Irawan Asaad, stated “We hope that these slow lorises will adapt well to their habitat in the Gunung Simpang Nature Reserve Area and be able to breed in the future. Slow lorises are a type of endemic Javanese primate which is listed as endangered and protected in Indonesia (Ministry of Environment and Forestry Regulation No. P.106 /MENLHK/SETJEN/KUM.1/12/2018). Let’s preserve it together by protecting its population and habitat.”
The Main Director of YIARI, Karmele Llano Sanchez stated, “We really appreciate the support from the government, in this case the West Java BBKSDA, in releasing these 10 Javan slow lorises. The Javan slow loris is a primate which often encounters humans because it lives on the edge of the forest. We hope that the release of these special animals will be the final stage of their journey, and we can give them a second chance to live freely in the forests of the Gunung Simpang Nature Reserve. I also hope that this slow loris conservation collaboration can continue in efforts to protect habitat and save wildlife,” she explained.