Home alone - The Princess of Kapas - Dugong

A strayed dugong calf was sighted in Pulau Kapas water on the 12 Aug 06. The calf Puteri Dugong has been clinging to a boat, a sign of the marine mammal seeking comfort and mistaking the hull of the boat as its mother. First time a dugong was sighted in Terengganu water. The baby dugong was rescued by Fisheries Department since Thursday 24 Aug. The expert believed that the strayed dugong had not been feeding for at least 10days. The baby dugong was then confined in a swimming pool with full time care and bottle-fed goad milk every 3 hours. Chow said Aquaria KLCC is prepared to receive Puteri Kapas and rehabilitate it until it was ready to be released to the wild.		Below picture was taken in Pulau Kapas on the 18th Aug. Puteri Kapas (means princess of Pulau Kapas in local language). Click here to view other underwater photos of Pulau Kapas.
"The animal is too young to be left unattended and the best place is a facility like Aquaria which has the immediate facility to care for the dugong. We may not have a dugong specialist but we have marine biologists with experience handling other marine species which will be useful," said Chow. Read More Dugongs, often known as sea cows, can sometimes grow up to 3m in length and weigh over 400kg. The main areas of dugong populations are around the Sungai Johor and Sungai Pulai estuaries, Desaru-Teluk Mahkota coastal areas and areas off Pulau Sibu and Pulau Tinggi. To know more about dugongs. Click Link 1 and Link 2 In 1999, a newborn dugong Si Tenang was found in Pasir Gudang, Johor. Si Tenang was died 2 days after released back to the wild. Hopefully Puteri Kapas will not have the same fate as Si Tenang. Menteri Besar was committed to ensure the baby dugong survives this time. While great concern has been shown over the fate of the dugong calf, there have been no statements on the action taken to find its mother cited by Saras S.K. of Malaysia Nature Society. In fact, the lack of information on the status of the dugong in Terengganu hinders the management of dugongs. The society hopes that a population assessment will be carried out as soon as possible to enable the state to draw up an appropriate management plan for dugong conservation.