Meet the Woman Risking Her Life to Protect the Endangered Gibbon
By Ellyn Kail on February 10, 2021
Bam Ramli, 33, founder of the GPSM (Gibbon Protection Society of Malaysia) holds 9 month-old Cinta at an undisclosed location in Pahang, Malaysia. Cinta was rescued from online traders during a sting operation. Bam is currently using her own house for the infants because they need constant care and GPSM doesn’t have the proper facilities yet. She says, “infants need a warm environment at night and need to be given milk every 4 hours.”
Bam is working tirelessly with the government of Malaysia to try to gain permission to build the first ever gibbon rehabilitation center in Malaysia. The GPSM operates off of Bam’s own money and private donations.
PETALING JAYA: The Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) has removed several gibbons from the premises of a sacked former employee who was conducting a rehabilitation programme for the endangered primates.
Mariani Ramli, a former ranger who was dismissed from the department in 2017, had previously been given permission by her employer to rehabilitate six gibbons that would later be released into the wild.
Upon her dismissal however, the department withdrew that permission.
Mariani had challenged her dismissal and the withdrawal of the permission by filing judicial review proceedings.
The High Court had in July 2019 set aside the decision to terminate her employment and also the decision to withdraw the gibbons from her care.