Olivia Pozzan talks to veterinary nurse Casey Woodward about her work with sun bears in south-east Asia...
Founder of animal charity Animal Assist, Casey Woodward is a dynamic and passionate advocate for the Earth’s wild creatures and wild places. A woman with true grit, she leads by example, campaigning tirelessly in her quest to help the planet and inspire others in the process.
With a solid grounding in the conservation and animal fields (her qualifications include a Cert IV in Veterinary Nursing and a Diploma in Conservation and Land Management), Casey has spent over a decade working, volunteering and advocating for animal welfare and the environment. She is the Western Australia project co-ordinator for Tangaroa Blue Foundation, an Australian not-for-profit organisation that focuses on the health of the nation’s oceans and waterways. She is also the membership development manager for Western Australia Landcare Network, another not-for-profit that focuses on the preservation and protecting of the WA environment through supporting grassroots, community landcare.
Her past experiences include working on bush regeneration and revegetation projects in Queensland, leading teams on land management and tree-planting projects. She has volunteered at Australia Zoo and the RSPCA and worked as a vet nurse in animal shelters and small animal clinics. But it was her wildlife volunteer work in SE Asia that propelled her on her current path.
The journey begins
Casey’s journey to Animal Assist began on the opposite side of the globe, where her passion for the pristine landscapes of our natural world was ignited during a road trip through Canada and Alaska.
“I was 25 and it was the first time I had experienced real wilderness,” she said. “In this breathtaking mountain scenery I saw brown bears, moose and bison. To see grizzly bears catching salmon in the wild… I was completely hooked.”
So hooked that she spent many months living in a remote tree-planting camp in the Canadian wilderness. She loved the feel of her hands in the earth, of being surrounded by adventurous, like-minded souls in a beautiful environment. “They were fun-loving, fit, healthy, ‘live in the moment’ kind of people.”
Canada ignited her passion for the outdoors but Borneo was pivotal to the inception of Animal Assist. On her first trip in 2012 she was captivated by the incredible richness of the forest and its unique species. In 2014, just two months after marrying her husband, Casey accepted a 12-month volunteer position with Orangutan Foundation International (OFI). Her role as a sun bear rehabilitator in Indonesian Borneo was a life-changing experience.
Demanding but rewarding work
Sun bears in SE Asia are hunted for the illegal wildlife trade including bear bile farming and the pet trade. Casey’s role was to help rehabilitate and prepare suitable orphaned and rescued bears at the centre for release back into the forest. As a young, Western woman living and working (often alone) in the jungle, she found the role physically and emotionally demanding but extremely rewarding. It was here that a young orphaned bear called Koko stole her heart.
“Koko and Okta were around six-months-old when they came into care, so they were considered a good release option,” she says.
If bears bond with their human carer, it can hamper their release back into the wild. It was hoped these two young bears would form a strong bond that would override any bond they developed with their carer. “Okta was wild and frightened. She was missing two claws which had likely been hacked off by a machete when her mother was presumably butchered. Koko had been kept as a pet and was less anxious around humans.”
After six months at the care centre gaining the cubs’ trust and planning for the release site, Casey and the two bears moved to a remote camp deep in the National Park of Central Kalimantan, a two-hour motorbike ride from the closest town. The bears were fitted with telemetry devices by a vet so they could be tracked if they roamed too far.
“From sunrise to sunset, I would walk the bears in the jungle with the purpose of letting them establish their own home range, to learn to fend for themselves, find honey, climb trees and to display and practice their natural bear behaviours,” Casey says.
Hanging tough and keeping up
Casey had to be mentally tough to cope with the isolation and physically fit to keep up with the youngsters. “It was incredible to watch them sit up, smell the air then run a kilometre to find wild honey,” she recalls. “They would gorge for hours on the honey, then have a long sleep up a shady tree. Even though they likely had no prior learning with their mothers, it was amazing to watch them develop their innate natural behaviours.”
The dynamics between the trio changed when Okta fell out of a tree and sustained a compound fracture to her elbow. She was relocated back to the centre for treatment and recovery, leaving Casey and Koko to continue the rehabilitation-for-release process in the jungle.
“Koko was lost without Okta,” she says. “She craved companionship and turned to me.” As the weeks passed, Casey and Koko continued their daily walks, Koko learning and developing her natural instincts under Casey’s protective eye.
Then one day during a storm, Koko ran away. It wasn’t unusual for the young bear to get overexcited by the regular storms and run off, but she was always easy to track and find. “This time I couldn’t find her. The telemetry didn’t work in the rain. I was screaming out her name, but I couldn’t find her.”
Casey’s distress was compounded by the thought of the young bear spending the night alone and frightened in the jungle and not in the soft-release cage where she usually slept. “I was up at first light searching for her. I searched for weeks, hiking over 20 kilometres a day in the rough jungle, climbing trees to see if the telemetry could detect anything. I never found her.”
While searching for Koko, Casey discovered a number of illegal hunting camps. At each one she surreptitiously searched the camps for evidence of bear parts or remains. Thankfully, she found nothing to point to a grisly end. But no sign of Koko was ever found. Nor was Koko’s telemetry device.
The loss of Koko the bear still haunts Casey. “In my heart I don’t think she survived. We hadn’t been in the forest long enough for her to learn everything she needed to survive. I was still supplementary feeding her. And she faced so many dangers including other bears and hunters.”
Maintaining the connection
Through Animal Assist, Casey has maintained a connection to the transformative experience she underwent in Borneo – a connection to Koko’s spirit, to the Bornean jungle and to the frontline conservationists fighting to preserve its wildlife.
“I don’t want the individuals on the frontline to feel like they are forgotten,” she says. “Their work is selfless. People don’t understand the sacrifices they’ve made and the trauma and tragedies they deal with every single day. They deserve to be supported.”
Casey’s experience working and volunteering with NGOs throughout SE Asia has allowed her a unique insight into how the organisations work. “I know how difficult it is for a grassroots NGO to operate with minimal resources and no money. But I have the skill sets to help.”
Those skill sets include fundraising and networking as well as her knowledge and experience in wildlife conservation. As a vet nurse she knows what medications are practical in the field and has developed useful contacts in the pharmaceutical industries. “I get a rush from connecting dots to achieve an outcome,” she says.
In the past two years, Animal Assist has supported a number of organisations and individuals with funds, equipment and veterinary supplies. Key organisations include Project Borneo, a charity assisting rescued wildlife in Malaysian Borneo, the Bali Animal Welfare Association (BAWA) in Bali, Jakarta Animal Aid Network which has animal welfare programmes throughout Indonesia, and the Bornean Sunbear Conservation Centre (BSBCC), a sun bear rescue and rehabilitation centre.
Animal Assist also supports the Conflict Islands Conservation Initiative to protect the natural environment of the Coral Sea and Conflict Islands, the Sumatran Ranger Project and its team of rangers patrolling the Leuser Ecosystem in North Sumatra and Paw Patrol, an animal welfare charity in Cambodia.
Most recently, Animal Assist raised some emergency funds for the seabirds of Christmas Island to assist with additional feeding and housing needs. This remote sanctuary in the India Ocean Territories is located thousands of kilometres from the Western Australia mainland.
While Animal Assist’s projects are mainly based in SE Asia, Casey’s roles with the Tangaroa Blue Foundation and WA Landcare Network allow her to remain active in the conservation sphere within Australia. She has been successful in growing collaborative relationships within both roles, always with the overarching goal to protect wildlife and assist grassroots initiatives.
Casey’s involvement within the environment sector is all-consuming and her compassionate need to help those on the frontline often feels overwhelming. Yet she remembers to appreciate and value the life she has. “I feel blessed,” she says. “I have a supportive husband and a little girl, Coco [named after Koko the bear], who bring me a lot of joy.”
Despite the challenges – or because of them - the idealistic young woman who connected with an orphan bear in the jungles of Borneo is today a fearsome warrior dedicated to saving the planet and its wildlife.
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