Caroline Bellhouse works for Way Out Experiences and is Education and Interpretation Officer for the Borneo Wildlife Volunteer Project. Here is her latest blog for a special weekend at Matang Wildlife Centre at the beginning of February:

The first weekend of February saw a few important changes and progress made at the centre. Way Out Experiences organized a second visit from staff at Zoo Negara in Kuala Lumpur. For those of you have read the past blogs, you will know that they visited in November and helped to relocate 5 Salt Water Crocodiles. Well, two of those crocs, Charlotte and Marc (named after volunteers!) obviously feel very contented in their new home, as Charlotte recently laid about a dozen eggs just near the pond. Rozwan, a reptile expert persuaded Matt and Caroline to accompany him and a colleague to enter the enclosure and, with a sheet of plywood for protection, they checked and counted the eggs. Some of the eggs were cracked and these were later blown and cleaned and will be used for educational purposes. The remaining pristine eggs were kept level and held up to the light … the embryos were just visible, wow! We added leaf litter and sand to a small mound that the crocs had made and carefully buried the eggs. We are expecting them to hatch in early May. At this stage we are not sure what the next step will be, as we do not have the room for any more crocs at Matang and releasing them in the area would seem foolhardy as they are bound to come into conflict with humans. We will keep you updated on any decisions.
Continuing with reptiles, we let Dr Reza (‘Doc’), a vet from Zoo Negara, loose with the tortoises and turtles so that he could count, identify and health check them. He was more than happy to oblige and was particularly pleased to meet our Spiny Shelled Turtle (Heosemys spinosa), as well as our male Big Headed Turtle (Orlitia borneensis) which as you can tell from his Latin name, is definitely a local. These animals have been rescued from the pet trade/food market and are unsuitable for release as no doubt they will be hunted again.
One of the other main missions for the weekend was to tranquilise Jacob, our adult male Sambar deer and relocate him. He has lived happily with Judy (his mother), in with Doris the orang utan for some years, but since Keith Jnr (our hand raised Sambar deer) recently moved in, Jacob has realised that he is grown up now and feels that it is his duty to be macho and show his strength. Sporting rather large antlers at this time of year, this means that he is a liability to staff and volunteers and so the decision was made to move him to a small yard next to the main deer enclosure.
So, under the guidance of Doc and John (animal keeper), Jacob was tranquilised and then lifted (by about 6 men!) onto a trolley with a Hessian sack duvet (stuffed with leaves) to keep him comfortable. His eyes and ears were covered and his breathing and temperature were monitored, and within about ten minutes he was in his new home. He was given a reversal drug and stood up within minutes, though he was groggy for a while. He is still getting used to his new home, complete with special pellet trough built into the fence.
On a social level, we all spent an evening at the local Iban Longhouse, sharing dinner, and dancing and singing…great fun was had by all! (The head man and a couple of others work at Matang Wildlife Centre)
So, at the end of the weekend, not only had a lot been achieved in terms of practical animal work, but also we had managed to link together various people (from management to vet and keeper to volunteer ), from two centres, four zoos, different countries and cultures (Malaysian, Iban, British, Australasian) to share knowledge and skills. Keith and I were totally exhausted but happy at the success of the programme.
Thanks to all those involved…without your efforts the animals’ lives would not have improved that little bit…