Community Service @ The National Zoo of Malaysia
Wildlife and humans are interconnected in many ways. The ecosystem services provided by wildlife, either directly or indirectly have provided humans with a better life. Some of us are lucky enough to visit a zoo to witness these marvels of nature such giant pandas, Bengal tigers and even black mamba snakes! Inspired by countless services carried out in a zoo by other Scout groups, we (KLKM UKM) dedicated our time to keep in touch with the wildlife to invite people to care for our Earth.
This project was carried out in The National Zoo of Malaysia. We contacted the zoo's management team a month prior to book our service slot. On the day of service, we were divided into small groups and tasked to clean the wildlife cages and even fed some of the animals generously. Cleaning tools such as a heavy duty water hose and boots were provided by the management team. Our service lasted around four hours, from 8.00 am to 12.00 pm.
Towards the end, we reflected about our climate impact on the precious wildlife that we had the pleasure to serve. The love we showed them should also be shown by all humans to their respective relatives in the wild. Many visitors were in awe as they witnessed our service. Some of them also inquired us on how to participate in the zoo's community service so that they too may contribute their effort whole-heartedly in reflecting the importance of wildlife to our planet.
From this project, we learnt to uphold our Scout values and laws at all time. Being patient and enjoying our service was the key in overcoming our tiredness. We definitely will serve next time as well, but till the evening at least to help the zoo's wildlife team in covering the cleaning process of more wildlife areas. Other than that, we made it a priority to keep in touch with the zoo so that new Scout members could experience this splendid journey under the KeeperKu program.