At the end of semester 2, Mr. Lim Chee Siong told us that we have an elective project in semester 3.

We were assigned to complete the community service for 20 days. After discussing with my
coursemates, we decided to complete part of the project in group and part of the project
individually. They are five people in my group including Jiou Su-Xian, Low Yin Yee, Lam Jun Rong,
Wan Hoon Mun and me. We decided to be volunteers in Zoo Negara after some discussion. We
contacted the education officer in the Zoo Negara and registered as a volunteer. The objective of
choosing Zoo Negara is because we want to expose ourselves to the community-based activities. We
hope to get more volunteering experience as this is the first time we are involved in community
service. Another important reason is because we realized the importance of conserving wildlife.

Zoo Negara is managed by a non-governmental organization namely Malaysian Zoological Society. It

complies with the latest guidelines set by the World Association of Zoos and Aquarium (Waza) and
South-East Asian Zoo Association (Seaza) and has increased its conservation awareness efforts. They
are a total of over 5446 specimen from 476 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish.
The five pillars that Zoo Negara stands on are education to create awareness on wildlife
conservation, wildlife conservation by breeding those rare species and releasing them back into the
wild, provide a haven knowledge and experience for researchers, recreation and provide training in
wildlife management for other zoos in Malaysia. We spent a lot of time working there and we had
fun although it was not an easy task. On the first day of our volunteer service at Zoo Negara, we
arrived there at 8am. We were separated by the zoo officer into two groups. Yin Yee and I worked in
pair and we started our day in the Bear complex. There are several types of bear, including the
Asiatic black bear, brown bear, sloth bear, and Malayan sun bear. Besides bears, there are different
types of animals in this section such as tapir, kangaroo, deer and goat. We helped an Indian man
who is the supervisor of this section to clean the surrounding area. First, he brought us to a cage that
has many black goats in it. He gave us different task. Yin Yee was instructed by him to throw the tree
trunks outside of the cage to a specific place near the cage. The specific place is a small empty land
that is used to collect rubbish and animal waste from all departments in the zoo. There are rubbish
collectors that come and collect the rubbish daily and some of the plastic bags that contain animal
stools will be sent to the researchers. On the other hand, I was following him into the cage to wash
the area and clean the animal waste. He asked me to count the goats and make sure the number of
goats is correct in case one of the goats ran out of the cage. I filled up the water tank with water and
fed the black goats with grasses. Next, we proceeded to another large cage with many deer in it.
There were a lot of dried leaves and tree trunks in the cage so both of us spent about two hours to
sweep all the leaves. We bagged up all the dried leaves and rubbish and sent the rubbish bags with
a trolley to the specific place that was mentioned earlier. Then, we brought grasses into the cage
again to feed the deer. After that, we had a break for lunch. When we returned after lunch, the
supervisor brought us to a different cage that has kangaroos in it. We were asked to wash all the
containers that contain food waste. The supervisor brought in a bucket that contains grasses and
vegetables and asked us to pour them into all the containers to feed the kangaroos. We finished all
the work and went home at 4 oclock in the afternoon.

After our end of semester exam in November, we went back to Zoo Negara again for voluntary
work. Members from another group including Tan Joe Jen, Tan Yee Yein and Eugene Ngim Kai Lun
joined us as well. Early in the morning, we arrived at Zoo Negara and waited for the staff to separate
us into different groups. Eugene, Su-Xian and I were working as a group and we worked at Childrens
World department on that day. We got to work with horses, rabbits, fawns, porcupines and goats
which are really very cute and friendly. Three of us were given a task to sweep and clean the area.
We felt satisfied after sweeping the whole area as the place was much cleaner than before. After
that, we took out a few buckets that contains vegetables and fruits from a store room and brought
the food into different cage to feed the animals. Next, we proceeded to another place where there
are many rabbits and porcupines. We helped to clean the bunnies feces, wash the container, refill
their water container and feed them with carrots. After we had finished the task given, we went for
lunch break. When we returned, one of the zoo keepers brought us to a place that has many bunny
cages. He explained to us on how to clean the cages. Then, we started our work by raking up the
animal waste and the unwanted grass mats. After we finished cleaning the cages, we put in new
grass mats into all the cages. Bunnies like to rest on grass mats and these are their habitats. We
finished up the task given and went home at 4 oclock in the afternoon. On the third day, I was
working in the same department with the same partners again. So, the work that we had done in the
morning is basically the same like the previous day. We were sweeping the squirrel cages as well.
Besides that, we were told by a zoo keeper that they need our help in repairing the old tyres to hang
in the monkey cage. Hence, we helped them to remove the screws on the old tyres and the rubber
strap because the old rubber strap was broken and cannot be used anymore. Then, we used the old
tyres and screwed them along a new rubber strap which is very long and thick. After we had finished
screwing all the tyres, two staff climbed on to the roof of the monkey cage to hang the new strap of
tyres. Three of us helped to push up all the tyres together with the rubber strip by using a long stick
so that they were able to get the rubber strap and tied it on both side of the roof. The tyres are
made for the monkeys to play with because they like to climb and there were no trees inside the
cage so what they can do is to provide some tyres and make the cage like a playground.

On the fourth day at Zoo Negara, I was working with Eugene and Su-Xian again. We were arranged
by the staff to work in Mammal Kingdom department. The Mammal Kingdom is full of nocturnal
animals. It is a home to leopard cats, slow loris, Malay civet, pumas, leopards, raccoons, striped
hyenas and Binturong. There are capybara and Malayan porcupine as well. This is the department
that I like the most because we were feeding the animals most of the time. We followed a Malay
man who is a zoo keeper that is in charge of the department to his office. We changed our boots and
started our day by sweeping the surrounding area. Next, the Malay zoo keeper separated us as there
are two sections in that department. Eugene and Su-Xian went to another section to help another
zoo keeper to clean the cages while I was following the Malay zoo keeper to wash the cages around
this section. I helped him to wash all the raccoon cages. Besides that, I also cleaned their food
container and swept the animal waste inside the cage under his supervision. We cannot wash the
cages alone because raccoons are quite aggressive and they might attack us. Next, the three of us
proceeded to another pademelons cage to sweep the dried leaves and rake up the animal waste.
After finishing our task, we had our lunch break. We were given two buckets of foods. One of the
buckets contains small fishes whereas another bucket contains many packets of bread. First, a zoo
keeper brought us to feed the otters. We brought the bucket with small fishes in it and threw them
one by one into the big aquarium with many otters in it. The otters are very smart and they can
catch the fishes that we threw towards them. We enjoyed throwing fishes to them and observing
the way they eat. Next, we brought the bucket that filled with bread to the raccoons cage. We were
standing outside the cage to feed the raccoons. It was such a nice and memorable experience for us.

On the fifth day which is the last day for me to be a volunteer at Zoo Negara, there were only five of
us including Joe Jen, Yin Yee, Su-Xian, Eugene and I who went to the zoo. This time, we got to work
together as a group. Early in the morning, the staff separated all the volunteers into different
department. There were volunteers from other secondary school that came on that day. The staff
arranged us to work at Bear Complex. This was the second time I was working in this section. In the
morning, we started our day by raking up the animal waste in the tapirs cage and washing the cage.
Then, Su-Xian and I threw the rubbish bags to the empty land while the other three people were
sweeping inside the cage. After that, Su-Xian and I were following the supervisor to the bears cages.
We were instructed by the supervisor to wash the food containers. After that, we had lunch break.
We did not help much on that day because it was raining cats and dogs after our lunch break.
However, the zoo keeper asked us to sweep inside the deers cage before we go back. Although it
was still raining, we still obeyed what the zoo keeper told us to do because we knew that he needed
our help. We followed him into the cage and sweep as quickly as we can for about half an hour. We
went home at 4 oclock in the afternoon.