Project Orion: Jun 6, 2009

Meeting 5

Venue: Vivo City

1) Recee Trip Updates

- Questions from previous meeting answered

2) Operations Update

- Programme for Project Orion

- English Introductory Sessions

- Mangrove Replanting

- Post-Event Updates

- R&R Updates

3) Logistics Update

- Additions to team and personal packing list

- Stuff to buy for lessons and WWF Info Centre

- Stuff to buy for beach patrol and mangrove replanting

4) Sponsorship Updates

5) AOB

- Bicycles or car?

- The merchandise and transport discussion

- Liaisons with WWF and Malaysian Scouts

Orion Mascot

After our pre-event at Underwater World Singapore, we head off to Build-A-Bear Workshop for Orion Mascot!

After we chose a turtle figure, the manager of Build-A-Bear Workshop, Angie, helped us to give Orion a 'life'! Stuffing cotton in progress~...

We gave our wishes..

Oliver 'bathing and scrubbing' Orion..

Jia Hui, Melissa and me with well-dressed Orion!

Oliver and Melissa + Orion

Registering Orion a 'birth certificate'

CUTE!

Pledging our love for Orion

And to take care of it!

Group photo!

Melissa volunteered to sew World Scout Emblem on Orion's left chest pocket!

We are bringing ORION with us to Terrenganu! =)

Sign off,
May Lwin
Operation

Associate Professor Diong Cheong Hoong

Project Orion Supporter

Dr. Diong Cheong Hoong, from National Institute of Education, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Science Education, is a leading sea turtle researcher in Singapore. Dr. Diong received his BSci (Hons) degree from the University of Malaya, before moving on to obtain his MSci and PhD degrees from the University of Hawaii.

Dr. Diong’s professional affiliations include the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, The Wildlife Society, The Herpetologist League, International Sea Turtle Society and the Institute of Biology, Singapore. Dr. Diong was the Chairman for Year of Turtle (YoT) Singapore in 2006 and a Scientific Observer for the 16th IBO held in Peking University, Beijing in 2005, amongst many others.

Apart from his interests in environmental science education and vertebrate ecology, Dr. Diong also has an immense interest in sea turtle nesting ecology and conservation. He showed his support for the project by taking time off from his busy schedule on a weekend to present his research and chat with the team during our pre-event visit to UWS.

Underwater World Singapore

Project Orion Supporter

MARINE CONSERVATION AND BREEDING

Besides taking care of over 2,500 animals under their charge, the dedicated team of marine biologists at Underwater World Singapore has participated in a number of external marine conservation and breeding projects. They have also played an active role in rescue and rehabilitation of injured and stranded marine animals including coral reef rescue and transplantation and sea turtle rescue.

One of Underwater World Singapore main breeding and conservation program involves sea turtles:

1. Rehabilitation of injured and stranded marine turtles, as well as turtles confiscated by AVA from illegal traders. Turtles that are in better health are released back into the wild in conjunction with release programs.

2. Development of appropriate husbandry and care for the turtles with both local and international experts.

3. The first captive breeding of the highly endangered Hawksbill Turtle, jointly with Port of Nagoya aquarium.

4. A sea turtle-tagging project with Nanyang Technological University- National Institute of Education (NTU-NIE). 12 rehabilitated sea turtles have been released for the project.

Pre-Event @Underwater World Singapore

The Project Orion Team was glad to have the opportunity to visit the Underwater World Singapore for our Pre-Event Service Project. We were also given the honour of having Dr. Diong, a leading turtle researcher in Singapore to enlighten us on sea turtle conservation.

The pre-event was a very fruitful one as we learnt much on our sea friends and we were more prepared to face them in our project. UWS also gave us the opportunity to feed the sea turtles. They too gave us an insight on the tagging of the marine turtles. The most interesting part of the trip was definitely the visit to the quarantine area where the team got to see baby turtles ready to be introduced to the aquarium. The staff of UWS also taught us how to identify the different turtles we will be interacting with, such as the Hawksbill Turtle and the Green Turtle. It would be wonderful, however, if we actually saw a rare Leatherback Turtle come up to nest along the East Malaysian shores.