We were delighted and surprised to receive a cheque for £40,000 raised from The Body Shop Foundation’s Sumatra Trek.

Cathy and Ashley from the Orangutan Foundation
with trekkers Helen Biggs (on the left), Zara O'Sullivan and
Nicky Starns (on the right) on Monday 13 May.

Watch a short video clip of their adventures here on YouTube.

A huge thank you The Body Shop Foundation, to all the 20 intrepid trekkers and also to their generous supporters.

As oil-palm plantations encroach upon more and more orangutan habitat, this endangered great ape’s struggle to exist will only get harder. The Orangutan Foundation continues to rescue wild orangutans, many of them young (their mothers probably killed) from oil palm plantations.

Last month we rescued a young orangutan, who we named Melan, from a plantation, she had a large wound to her head, which we are still treating (find out more and watch a video clip on our blog).

A few weeks later another young wild orangutan, named Jupe, this time in good health, was rescued, given a veterinary check and then trans-located to the Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Indonesian Borneo.

We also know of another two orangutans, who have been seen in an oil palm plantation, eating the oil-palm fruit. That the apes should resort to eating it is almost certainly a sign of a shortage of wild fruit, which in turn is a sign of loss of habitat due to encroachment by oil-palm plantations. Our rescue team will continue to search for the orangutans and hopefully move them to the Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve - prime orangutan habitat, which we are safeguarding with guard posts and patrols.

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