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Australian volunteer to raise funds for ‘owa-owa’
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An owa-owa (gibbon) is seen at a shelter in Sumatra. (Courtesy of Kate Warren/File)
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ustralian volunteer Kate Warren, 25, who has been helping to care for animals at a shelter in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, has pledged to raise funds for owa-owa (gibbons) when she returns home to Sydney for Christmas.
Speaking to The Jakarta Post about her plan to fundraise through crowdfunding site GoFundMe, Warren said she thought owa-owa were “forgotten” compared to orangutans, although they both had survival problems due to dwindling habitats.
“It is hard for owa-owa to adapt to new territory,” Warren said. If their habitat was destroyed, owa-owa would stay in the same place despite the lack of food, leading them to go hungry, fall from the trees and die, she added.
Warren said she wanted to do something to save owa-owa.
Warren’s tasks at the shelter, the Environmental Education Tourism Site in Balikpapan, included taking care of sun bears and hundreds of cats. “Like a Muslim, I wake up when I hear the early morning call for prayer and prepare food for the cats,” she said.
Before volunteering in Balikpapan, Warren volunteered at the Sumatra Rainforest Institute (SRI), where she took care of owa-owa, especially sick animals, including feeding them and talking to them. “They understand when we are talking to them and their eyes are beautiful,” she said.
Warren, who previously worked as an assistant at an animal clinic in Croydon Park, Sydney, said she planned to return to Indonesia next year. (evi)
