Beginning of the project: 2021
Donation sum collected in 2023: 137 797 CZK
Overall fundraising revenue: 273 685 CZK
Method of financing: the 4NATURE fundraiser
In 2021, Zlín Zoo joined another wildlife rescue project, the Kukang Rescue Program (KRP). The Kukang Rescue Project was found by Czech-Indonesian team who dedicated their lives to the protection of Kukang, slow lori. The rescue work is dedicated to the fight against the illegal wildlife trade and the protection of Sumatran wild, especially the kukangs, poisonous primates falling victim to their cuteness. Slow loris are often illegaly captured for pets, having their teeth removed to avoid biting the new wealthy owners. Because of the primitive ways of the teeth-pulling, they quickly succumb to stress or infections. Another threat, quickly decreasing the kukang numbers, is the loss of habitat and the destruction of their environment due to the establishment of new oil palm plantations and the illegal logging. Furthermore, slow loris are often killed by farmers, being considered crop pests merely.
The Kukang Rescue Program is focused mainly on the protection of the nothern Sumatra, the homeland to the greater slow loris and the Sumatran slow loris. In 2014, KRP built a rescue and rehabilitation center for confiscated slow loris. The construction was vital, until then, there was no other facility to keep the flourishing illegal trade at bay. The center enabled police and the local authorities to confiscate the slow loris, either smuggled or illegally bred.
The vision of the Czech-Indonesiam team is extraordinary, employing the former poachers to protect the endangered slow loris, resolving conflicts between the species and farmers peacefully, turning them into conservationists themselves: the KRP also runs a project called the Kukang Coffee, joining together coffee growers adopting a nature-friendly methodology of cultivation and processing of high-quality coffee beans. Once processed, the product is bought by the KRP at a price higher than the farmers would obtain at the market. In return, every farming member of the Kukang Coffee Community must keep their promise to protect the threatened wildlife.
In order to support the efforts made, the KRP also established two libraries lending books on environmental education and a public school for children of Bandar Baru, focused on environmentalism.
