Puteri Kapas

Meet Puteri Kapas, the baby dugong that was found off Pulau Kapas back in August. She was strayed and was found swimming alone beneath the boats and was rumoured to be part of as many as 3 sighted the day before. As our boat made it’s way back from a dive, several boatmen were sighted swimming near their boats. As our boat drifted over, a few of us slipped into the water and the dugong swam around us, calling out, probably for its mother. When we sighted it on 19th August and from the photos I managed to take, it was obvious that it was still healthy and uninjured.

The photos caused quite a stir, as it was documented proof of the first dugong sighting in Terengganu in over 30 years. The sighting had mobilized staff from the Turtle and Marine EcoSystem Centre (Tumec) within the next day, which promised immediate action to conserve and protect the dugong.

News about it in the media broke slowly, coming only more than a week after the first sighting. By then, the reports focused on the rescue and recuperation efforts to save an injured dugong calf that had been hit by propeller blades. When it was first sighted alone, staff from TUMEC suspected it to be a pup recently weaned from its mother, and not a newborn calf as dugongs still suckling from its mother may remain with her for a year.

From the news report that KLCC Aquaria was involved in its recuperation, I was hopeful. If it was indeed an orphaned or strayed dugong that’s still reliant on its mother’s milk, the best place would be in an environment where experts are able to call on assistance immediately from experts around the world. I believe KLCC Aquaria would have been far better than Gem Resort’s saltwater pool. News about Puteri Kapas was few and far between after the initial report. The next substantial report would be the sad news of its death.

It disappointed me that the Dugong was left in Gem Resort’s pool for recovery, even after the failed recuperation efforts for a dolphin several years back. It simply is not an environment that is capable of recuperating marine life of that size. It may very well be substantial enough as a turtle hatchling sanctuary but surely not for a dolphin or dugong. Enough has been mentioned in the various blogs and reports about the inadequacy of that facility, the decisions made and the efforts to recuperate it that I won’t harp along those lines.

At the end of it, we have lost an opportunity and it is sad and unfortunate that better care was not afforded to Puteri Kapas when the possibility was there. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure TUMEC did the best it felt it could do. But it simply was not enough. Therein lies another problem. For a country so blessed with coastal and marine environments such that we have in Malaysia, I wonder, do we have enough marine biologists or even marine biology facilities in the country?