IPPL Funds New Home for 'Lucky' Gibbon

September 2007

Lucky, a permanently injured agile gibbon from Sumatra (Hylobates agilis), has finally been moved to a larger enclosure, thanks to funds donated by IPPL. Lucky is under the care of staff at the Petungsewu Wildlife Rescue Center (known locally as PPS), a facility located in Malang, East Java, Indonesia, established by the grassroots pro-wildlife group ProFauna Indonesia in 2001. She had been turned over to PPS after being confiscated by the forestry police in 2002 from a woman in Malang. The gibbon had been rescued from miserable living conditions. Her neck was chained and her arms had been injured: the poor gibbon had been run over by the many rickshaws that passed in front of her owner’s house. Her right arm is now paralyzed.

Unfortunately, due to her permanently injured arm, it is impossible to release Lucky into her natural habitat. The best that PPS caregivers can do is to give Lucky a bigger home, so she can move about more freely. Fortunately for Lucky, IPPL decided to fund the renovation of her new enclosure, which was previously inhabited by eagles that have now been released back into the wild. She seems to be very happy in her new home, moving about actively and enjoying a good appetite. Every day, in the morning or evening, Lucky sings loudly, competing in harmony with the leaf monkeys at the rescue center.

Lucky—another victim of trade

Sadly, Lucky is just one unfortunate illustration of the end-result of the illegal wildlife trade. Gibbons are among the most popular primates traded in Indonesia, along with orangutans, slow lorises, and Javanese leaf monkeys. Even though all gibbon species are protected by Indonesian law, trade in these animals continues to flourish. The last investigation conducted by ProFauna, done in 2004, documented that approximately 1,000 gibbons from Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo (Kalimantan) are being traded every year.

The majority of these gibbons are sold at the “bird markets” (open-air wildlife markets) around Java and Sumatra, where they fetch between one and three million Indonesian rupiah (US$100 – 300) each. The gibbons that are being sold for pets are mostly babies or youngsters who have been brought into captivity after their mothers were shot. In the wild, gibbons live high in the treetops, so they are safe from most predators—except for humans with guns.

Lucky really is a lucky gibbon!

When pet gibbons grow up, they become more independent and even somewhat aggressive. The owners become reluctant to continue taking care of their troublesome animal, and in some cases, they even kill their once-beloved gibbon. Lucky is indeed lucky that she ended up at a caring wildlife facility instead.