KOTA KINABALU: Five rescued gibbons will be the pioneer wards of Sabah’s first gibbon rehabilitation project that was set up in west coast Kota Belud district recently.
These gibbons of the North Bornean Gibbons (Hylobates Funereus) species of small apes, which are mostly kept as pets, are now in the good hands of the Gibbon Conservation Society (GCS).
GCS president Mariani Ramli said in this first stage, the Borneo Gibbon Rehabilitation Project or Borneo GReP will try to rehabilitate these five gibbons at the centre in Kampung Kiau Nulu, after having arrived there on Jan 17.
“Over the next few weeks, the Borneo GReP team will gather data on each individual to assess their psychological state and needs, in order to create a rehabilitation plan for each of them.
“Rehabilitation takes many years depending on each individual’s experienced trauma and ability to relearn their natural behaviours. We hope all five gibbons will be able to be released one day,” she said in a statement recently.
Mariani revealed most of these rescued gibbons were orphans taken in by villagers as pets after their parents were killed.
She said gibbons share some 96% of human DNA and help disperse the seeds of certain plants and tree species in the jungle, thus helping keep the ecosystem in Sabah forests balanced. She said Borneo GReP aims to not only conserve this species also known as ‘singing apes’, but to also boost interest amongst researchers and visitors.
Mariani said Borneo GReP focuses on rehabilitating two gibbon species – the North Bornean Gibbon and the Abott’s Gray Gibbon (Hylobates Abbotti).
Both species are categorised as endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
The IUCN is an international organisation working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.
During the Jan 22 launch, Kadamaian assemblyman Datuk Ewon Benedick expressed his appreciation to the non-governmental organisations and wildlife authorities involved in making the rehabilitation centre a success.
He said the centre would serve as a new tourist attraction for locals and foreign visitors to Kampung Kiau and at the same time function as a rehabilitation centre of the endangered species called Kalawot in the native Dusun language.
He said such efforts tied in with the government’s initiatives for sustainable tourism, environment and economic development.
Ewon said to support this centre, a total of RM50,000 will be allocated to help its kick-off.
He said out of the RM50,000, half will be for the centre’s maintenance while the rest would be used to upgrade facilities leading to the area.
It is learnt that an NGO, Nepada Wildlife Jerman, had allocated some RM100,000 to the centre while RM40,000 has been set aside by the state to start up the centre.
