Great apes in print

We have been working with outstanding wildlife photographer Ian Wood to raise awareness of orangutans and showcase some of Ian's wonderful photographic prints.

For the unique opportunity to obtain a limited edition, high-quality orangutan print, join the online auction here for your chance to bid on a one-off print signed by our Founder & Director/Trustee, Ashley Leiman OBE. You can also visit the Lucy Bell Gallery in St Leonard’s-on Sea before the 14th November to see this amazing work in person!

Additionally, there are five incredible prints available online with 25% of all proceeds going to the Orangutan Foundation. Each print has their own story from Ian:

Photo 1 - Wise man of the forest
A close encounter with this wild male Borneo orangutan in Lamandau wildlife reserve, Kalimantan, Indonesia. This area of forest offers real hope for the future and is where the Orangutan Foundation’s forest regeneration program takes place with tens of 1000s of new trees planted.

Photo 2 - The kiss
Orangutans are the best mothers in the natural world with their offspring dependent on them for up to eight years. I captured this moment in Tanjung Puting National Park,Borneo, which shows the love between mum and baby is very mutual.

Photo 3 - Gentle giant
I was fascinated with this male orangutan’s interaction with a butterfly which I hope captures the gentle nature of these animals. Taken in Tanjung Puting National Park, Borneo.

Photo 4 -The windows to the soul
I love being in a storm in the rain forest and this was taken after a downpour of biblical proportions. Crouching under a tarpaulin to keep my camera gear dry, I waited for the deluge to end and was rewarded with such a close encounter with this curious baby orangutan.

Photo 5 - Joy
Observing young orangutans is often an experience full of joy and the expression on this one’s face sums up this enchanting spirit they have. Taken in Tanjung Puting National Park, Borneo.

News from Sumatra - An update from our partners at SOCP

Please read the orangutan update below written by our partners at the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme. Together we are working to protect the habitat and future of all three critically endangered species of orangutan:

On Wednesday 26th August, 2020, the orangutan post-release monitoring team at the SOCP’s Jantho orangutan reintroduction site, in Aceh province, came across an adult female orangutan. After a quick check to see if they could figure out who it was, they noticed that she was carrying a young infant, no more than a few months old! The baby orangutan is male and is the third baby orangutan born in Jantho since the SOCP's Orangutan Reintroduction Programme began releasing orangutans into the Jantho Nature Reseve in 2011. Mother and baby both appear to be healthy and are behaving just like wild orangutans would. The infant is being carried properly by his mother and has been seen breastfeeding without difficulty on numerous occasions.

After checking some earlier photographs the team are confident the mother is 'Edelweiss', actually the very first orangutan to be released at Jantho back in 2011. After her release she immediately moved away from the camp area and deep into the forest. On February 11, 2020, a female orangutan strongly suspected to be Edelweiss was observed not far from the orangutan reintroduction site and at that time she was showing signs of being pregnant.

The aim of SOCP's orangutan release program at Jantho is to build a new, wild population of Sumatran orangutans (pongo abelii) as a "safety net" or "backup", should a of catastrophe befall the remaining truly wild populations in and around the Leuser Ecosystem. This is especially important in the midst of the current pandemic, as whilst the scientific evidence suggests orangutans and the other great apes are susceptible to infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the effect it might have on them remains entirely unknown.

To date, more than 120 individual orangutans have been successfully released into the Jantho Nature Reserve but many more are needed before the population could be considered genetically viable and self-sustaining for the long term. For this reason, every orangutan released or born in Jantho’s forests is extremely significant and important, and gives new hope for the future of this critically endangered species.

Director of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, Dr Ian Singleton said “We always knew it would be several years before we really started to see infants being born on a regular basis among the new population of orangutans we are creating in Jantho. This is because most of the orangutans we release there are 5 to 8 years old, whilst wild orangutan females tend to be around 15 years old on average when they have their first infant. It's great to see these new infants starting to appear though, and it's especially rewarding when you think about all the hard work, spanning many years, that goes into reintroducing each and every one of the orangutans we have released to date. That these new infants have never known captivity and human contact is also extremely heart-warming, and hopefully they never will, unlike their parents, whose own mother’s were almost certainly killed during their original capture and some of whom have endured years chained by the neck or kept in tiny cages at the hands of their illegal owners. The orangutans we are releasing in Jantho, and those now being born there, really are the founders of this entirely new wild population, and it's never been more important to have these ‘back up’ populations as we face the extremely worrying prospect of SARS-CoV-2 infections passing from humans to orangutans, both in captivity and in the wild”.

Photos by Kike Arnal/Arcus Foundation

Our new partnership to protect all three species of orangutan

Orangutan Foundation is pleased to announce that we have entered into a new partnership to support the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, which has been operating in Sumatra for the past 20 years.

Whilst we have supported this programme in the past, this new partnership will ensure that in the future, the Foundation is more effective in its efforts to help conserve all three critically endangered species of orangutan - Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutans.

We will now be including news updates from Sumatra and Borneo in our e-news, blogs and social media posts.

Photos by Kike Arnal/Arcus Foundation

30 years and counting

This year at the Foundation we are celebrating an important milestone- 30 years of conservation.

30 years protecting the critically endangered orangutan. 30 years on the front line guarding the vulnerable tropical forests of Borneo. 30 years collaborating with local people with environmental education and sustainable land-management practices.

The Orangutan Foundation’s programmes and primary focus is in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Our country office in Pangkalan Bun is responsible for the livelihoods of 55 staff, all of whom are Indonesian from local towns and villages. This means that our dedicated workforce are fully appreciative of their surrounding environment and understand the importance of protecting their nearby forests.

In spite of the difficulties that we are currently all facing around the world, the threat to tropical forests in Borneo remains a constant, and our 10 guard posts are still alert to monitor any cases of illegal activity. These posts contain fire-fighting equipment and continue to play a vital role in protecting over half a million acres of forest across the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve and Tanjung Puting National Park (below).

The Foundation’s five post release monitoring camps within the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve (above left) continue to oversee reintroduced orangutans and the 10 young orphans currently in our soft-release programme. These orphans have been rescued from a life in captivity and offered a new chance of a future in the wild by learning essential skills in the safety of a protected forest.

Elsewhere in Tanjung Puting National Park, our remote camera traps are recording a fascinating insight into the diverse forests surrounding Pondok Ambung Tropical Forest Research Station (above right). Clouded leopards, tarsiers, sun bears, proboscis monkeys, and false gharial crocodiles are a handful of the unique species that continue to be observed and studied closely here.

Boy (left) and Timtom (right) are orphaned orangutans at Camp JL within the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. Learning from each other and the trees in the forest, the pair have the best possible opportunity to acquire the skills necessary for a life in the wild.

Meanwhile, our Habitat Restoration Programme has also been active in recent months. To date over 75,000 tree saplings have been planted since the devastating forest fires of 2015, and our team of experts are still diligently cultivating a new generation of saplings to reintroduce into the wild. We hope that these young plants which are more resistant to fires, will soon help rejuvenate new patches of forest and form part of a healthy natural ecosystem for years to come.

Saplings are transported from our nursery to an area of degraded forest where they can acclimatise to their new surroundings before being replanted.

The Orangutan Foundation operates in Indonesia under an MoU with the Ministry of Environment & Forestry and has a responsibility for our own field programmes. We were also the first organisation in the UK to raise awareness of the critically endangered orangutan and its threatened habitat 30 years ago. Despite the challenges that we face today, at the Foundation we know that we can continue our vital work long into the future. If you can, please help us maintain our important ongoing programmes by sponsoring an acre of tropical forest, adopting an orphaned orangutan, or making a donation today.

Our progress relies on the kindness of our supporters, members, and partners, so thank you for your dedicated support.

A message to our supporters

The outbreak of COVID-19 is a truly global challenge and an unprecedented time for all of us.

In our 30 years of work we have never before had to make such adjustments to our working environment both in the UK and in the field for the protection of wildlife and our staff.

As a result of this, for the first time since 1993 the Orangutan Foundation are sadly unable to publish and post out the Spring/Summer edition of our Red Ape newsletter. Unfortunately we are also currently not able to send orangutan updates and correspondence to our supporters in the post, instead we will be extending the membership and orangutan adoption renewals by three months.

We are extremely disappointed that this is a decision we have to make, but as a commitment to our loyal supporters, we will continue to keep you informed of our ongoing programmes via our website, social media, and email updates. If you’re yet to do so, please use the following link in order to subscribe to our monthly e-news messages and stay up to date on our news from the field.

While today’s challenges have resulted in some of our activities to be postponed, our dedicated teams in the UK and in the field are still working hard, and we hope that the next edition of Red Ape we can bring you later in the year will be a very special one celebrating our 30th anniversary.

Our mission is to provide a safe future for orangutans by protecting their crucial forest habitat, but the bedrock of our work has always been our loyal supporters, members and partners. We hope that we can rely on your support and understanding though this challenging time.

We wish the very best to all of our friends and supporters, hoping that you stay safe and healthy.

Great apes also under threat from COVID-19

In light of the recent COVID-19 outbreak, it is not just ourselves who may be at risk from infection, but in fact all great apes. Today, people worldwide are taking necessary precautions to halt the spread of the virus to one another, and we must use these same principles in order to prevent other susceptible species from becoming a victim of the pandemic.

At this time it is not known what effect this virus has on orangutans, however when we consider that they share 97% of their DNA with humans, and that Bornean, Sumatran, and Tapanuli species are classified as critically endangered, there is a genuine threat to these already vulnerable populations.

In an effort to temper the virus’s spread, eco-tourist sites such as Tanjung Puting National Park (above) have been temporarily closed to Indonesian and foreign visitors, much like well-known sites in Africa which have been closed to mountain gorilla viewings. At the Orangutan Foundation meanwhile, our teams continue to follow current safety measures in London and Indonesia.

In today’s unsteady climate, our priority of safeguarding orangutans and their forest environment remains a constant as we also protect our staff. Our habitat protection and restoration teams have taken note of the current warnings, and those caring for orphaned orangutans in our soft-release programme as always will continue to wear protective suits, gloves, and masks in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve.

During this uncertain time your support is pivotal to our ongoing work more than ever, which is why on behalf of all of us at the Foundation, we would like to thank you for helping us do all we can to protect orangutans from this threat to their future.

Volunteer in Borneo with Orangutan Foundation in 2018

We are looking for a few more adventurous individuals to join our volunteer team in Borneo. This year's project is the renovation of a forest guard post in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve.  Volunteers will be working and living on the site, which is a beautiful remote location in the middle of the forest. You will wake up and go to sleep to the sounds of the forest.

Last November, The Guardian ran an article featuring a first-hand account from one of our volunteer. It is well worth a read if you are interested in volunteering.  https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/nov/01/borneo-voluntourism-holiday-orangutan-foundation 

Orangutan Foundation does not allow any of its volunteers to have direct contact with orangutans and this is for the benefit of the apes. Most people understand this and can see the bigger picture of what they are doing.  Watch Orangutan Foundation’s Cathy Smith talking at Compass Ethical Travel Conference about ethical volunteering.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=213&v=3KM4ZBLvo38

If you want to spend a unique 3 weeks doing something worthwhile for orangutan conservation and see orangutans in the wild, then why not make this the year to join us? To find out more please click here or contact us.

Vet's first orangutan rescue

The Orangutan Foundation is delighted to welcome Dimas Yuzrifar as its new vet, replacing Dr Steven, who has now returned to Bali. Being "thrown in at the deep end" is certainly how the first week has been for Dr Dimas!  Last weekend we received reports of a wild orangutan in village forest. This was passed onto the government agency for wildlife, BKSDA SKW II Pangkalan Bun.

The orangutan was found close to oil palm, banana and rubber plantations owned by local residents. The villagers feared the orangutan would damage their crops and so BKSDA decided, in this case, to capture and move (translocate) the orangutan, to avoid any conflict arising. Dr Dimas managed to anesthetize the orangutan. After being caught the orangutan was identified as female with an estimated weight of around 25 kg.  The next day after checking the orangutan was well and active she was released into the safety of the protected Lamandau Willdife Reserve.

Watch this clip to see how quickly the orangutan leaves the transport cage and disappears into the forest.

After the busy weekend with the translocation, Dr Dimas also spent time meeting and checking up on the young orangutans in our release camps.  Here's a clip of young Satria playing in his night-time enclosure.

Wonder what the next week will have in store?

Thank you for supporting our work.

Donate to help us keep the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve and its precious orangutans and wildlife protected. Click here to donate - thank you. 

"All my days in the field are special, but on occasion something really exciting happens - a fight between two male orangutans and we were able to film it." - Ashley Leiman OBE

No sooner had our speedboat arrived at Camp Buluh when the staff came running and excitedly told us to hurry up. I knew before I reached the end of the jetty by the noise of breaking branches that something was going on in the forest ahead.

It didn’t take me long to see one huge male being pursued by another, both cheek padded. The assistants told me that they were Yoko, who was often seen around Camp Buluh, and Darwin, who hadn’t been seen for a number of years.

The orangutans were face-to-face in open combat. They would grapple one another, no doubt inflicting some injuries. This would last for a number of minutes until one would go further into the forest and there would be a lull in the confrontation.

There were times when both came down to the ground, one aggressively pursuing the other, before going back up into the trees. What was interesting was that during the conflict they would occasionally stop to rest, so obviously this activity takes a lot of energy.

Long calls and branch cracking perforated the performance. This encounter went on for over two hours before Darwin, realising Yoko had the upper hand, made his way further into the forest and was not followed.  That’s what I love being in the field, it’s never boring, it’s not every day one sees such excitement.

Become a Guardian of Lamandau today and help us protect the home of Yoko, Darwin and over 500 other critically endangered orangutans. Click here to find out more.

Thank you.

Ashley Leiman OBE, Director

Meet Aan the orangutan

To celebrate Orangutan Awareness Week, we are telling the stories of some of the orangutans who have been given a second chance thanks to your support for our work, but unfortunately, not all have a second chance in the wild. Aan

Aan is a blind orangutan. She first came to us in 2012, having been found stranded on an oil-palm plantation, after being shot over 100 times with an air gun. The injuries sustained left Aan blind. You can read more about her rescue here.

In 2016, we arranged for an ophthalmic surgeon to visit Aan to see if there was any chance of restoring her sight, with the hope that one day she could return to the wild. Aan underwent surgery but it soon became clear that the damage sustained was too severe and Aan would be permanantly blind.

Aan lives in a purpose-built enclosure at Camp Gemini, where our vet clinic is located, in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. Our staff give her the best quality of life that is possible, but sadly Aan can never return to the forest, where she belongs.

Aan’s story serves as a heartbreaking reminder that the threat to orangutans caused by habitat loss is a very real one. Please support our care of Aan during Orangutan Awareness Week by donating here.

Meet Kotim the orangutan

It is Orangutan Awareness Week and each day we will bring you a story about the orangutans in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. Thanks to your support we are protecting their forest home the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve and keeping them wild and free. Kotim

Kotim was rescued in 2014. She was handed over to Orangutan Foundation after being illegally kept as pet. Sadly, we can only assume that her mother was killed.

At three-years-old Kotim was too young to be released back into the wild and so entered into the care of our Soft-Release Programme, at Camp Rasak in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve, Indonesian Borneo. Kotim joined another infant orphan, Torup. They became playmates and together practised their nest-building and climbing skills.

By April 2016, Kotim was deemed to have all the skills needed to survive in the forest and was successfully released. She is still occasionally seen by Orangutan Foundation staff. In December 2016, Kotim was seen with adult female orangutan Acuy and her infant, Ariel.

Support Kotim during Orangutan Awareness Week. Please donate to help us protect her tropical forest home. Keep forests standing and orangutans in the wild.

Please donate here.

Here's a video of Kotim whilst under our care in our Soft-Release Programme:

Meet Bangkal the orangutan

To celebrate Orangutan Awareness Week, we are telling the stories of some of the orangutans who have been given a second chance thanks to your support for our work. Bangkal

In the late 1980’s Bangkal was an orphaned infant, being kept as a pet. He was rescued, rehabilitated over many years, and then released into Tanjung Puting National Park, Central Kalimantan Indonesian Borneo.

In 2000, when illegal logging was rife in Indonesia’s National Parks, Bangkal became the victim of a horrifying incident. Illegal loggers threw hot oil over him resulting in a burn down his face and neck.

During his recovery, Bangkal protected himself from annoying insects, by using a blanket to cover his injured face. Once recovered, Bangkal was released again but this time into the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve.

Now aged around 28 years-old, cheek-padded Bangkal is magnificent. He is the dominant male around Camp Gemini and is thought to have fathered many offspring.

Support Bangkal during Orangutan Awareness Week! Please donate here to help us protect Bangkal in his forest home.

Meet Holahonolulu the orangutan

To celebrate Orangutan Awareness Week, we are telling the stories of some of the orangutans who have been given a second chance thanks to your support for our work. Holahonolulu

Holahonolulu is a wild born adult female orangutan. Her mother, Huber, was released into the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve in around 2000 and Holahonolulu was born in 2004. Huber unfortunately passed away in 2012.

Holahonolulu is often seen by Orangutan Foundation staff at the feeding station, close to Camp Gemini. She been observed with Bangkal, a dominant male, mating on several occasions.  Orangutans have a gestation period of about 9 months, it is slightly shorter than humans. Watch this space for the announcement of a new arrival in a few months’ time!

We are delighted when released orangutans go on to produce future generations. The orangutans of Lamandau Wildlife Reserve are now a healthy, viable and growing population.

Support Holahonolulu during Orangutan Awareness Week here! Please donate to help us protect her tropical forest home.

Q&A with the Programme Manager of the Orangutan Foundation

People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) have been supporting the Orangutan Foundation's work in Indonesian Borneo for a number of years. We would like to share this Q & A with PTES and our Indonesian Programme Manager, Ade Soeharso, as part of the launch of their new appeal to save orangutan habitat. 

Orangutan expert and Programme Manager at the Orangutan Foundation, Dr Ade Soeharso, answers some questions about the lives of orangutans, the dangers they are facing and ways anyone can save them now.

When did you start working at the Orangutan Foundation?

I’ve been a partner of the Orangutan Foundation since 2006. I was still working for the government then. Between 2008-2014 I worked part-time as a technical advisor of the Orangutan Foundation, and since 2015 I’ve worked full-time for the Orangutan Foundation.

What is the ideal habitat for an orangutan?

The ideal orangutan habitat is a mixture of swamp forest, lowland dry forest, and mountain forest. Ideally the habitat would be undisturbed and have an abundance of trees for food and nesting.

What is a protected forest?

In Indonesia, a protected forest is a one where the underlying area is protected from being logged or converted to other uses by land clearing.

What is palm oil? Why is the production of it so destructive?

Palm oil is a vegetable fat produced from oil-palm fruit. Almost all food products and many other common items use palm oil as a raw material. Therefore, palm oil is produced in large quantities because there is a huge market. Unfortunately, production of palm oil requires very large areas and which is achieved by cutting down large numbers of trees, which we call forest conversion and land clearing.

What have you found the hardest thing about working on the project so far?

The conservation of forests and the animals that depend on them is still often seen as less important than economic and development issues. It is challenging to mobilize the support of the parties in forest conservation efforts.

What is causing conflict between wildlife and the human population?

Due to deforestation, the amount of wildlife habitat left is ever decreasing. This means that the potential conflict between humans and orangutans will only increase. Orangutans and many other animals such as crocodiles, bears, and monkeys are forced out of the degraded forest and end up in community settlements and plantations in search of food. Seen as pests, they are often shot. We make sure that where possible, wild animals are translocated back into safe habitat. This is only possible if there is safe habitat left to move them back to.

What do you enjoy most about working with orangutans?

I enjoy it so much when I could see orangutans who have been rescued and then released growing and thriving in well-preserved habitat, successfully raising families of their own.

What time do you have to get up in the morning? Are orangutans early risers?

I get up early at 5:30 am. In the forest, orangutans rise between 5:00-5.30 am and leave their nests to set off in search of food.

How do you manage not to get lost in the forest when you’re following apes?

Basically, when following apes we’re never alone. There are always at least two people. As well as helping record data and times, they are locals who are more familiar with the forests so that we don’t get lost.

How many orangutans have you and your colleagues saved recently?

In 2017, so far we have saved 14 orangutans. Some of them have been released already as they are mature and well enough. The others are in the soft release programme. They are taken out into the forest each day to practice feeding and climbing until they have mastered the basic skills and are ready to be released.

Are you optimistic about the future for orangutans?

I am optimistic that orangutans can still be saved as long as we focus on saving their forests that are an integral part of their lives.

What must happen to ensure their survival?

We have to encourage the creation of sustainable oil-palm plantations and stop forest conversion in orangutan habitat and prevent the occurrence of forest fires. We also have to ensure that law enforcement act so that no more orangutans are traded as pets.

What can our supporters do to help?

As well as donating to this project, if you are buying a product that is made using palm oil, look out for ‘sustainable palm oil’ on the label. Currently, the global area already being used for oil palm production is sufficient to meet our needs without any further loss of forest. It is possible for us to use oil-palm produced from sustainable palm oil plantations and it is something we can all to do.

Please help us to help orangutans today so that they are still here tomorrow.

Severely Malnourished Male Orangutan Rescued from Fragment of Forest in Indonesian Borneo

On Monday, 28^th August 2017, Orangutan Foundation together with the local wildlife authority, managed to rescue an orangutan, found stranded in a forested area between a village and an oil-palm plantation in Central Kalimantan. The orangutan, an adult male of around 17 years of age, only weighed 80kg - about two thirds its expected weight..

The alarm was raised by one of the villagers, who, seeing the orangutan so close by, was worried the orangutan would destroy his oil-palm plantation, and even enter his own home.

The challenging terrain made it difficult to reach the orangutan. The team had to use a boat to approach the area and then walk about 1km through swamp forest. On arrival, the orangutan was anesthetized to take it to a point of safety.

This rescue highlights the problem of habitat loss resulting in more wildlife coming into human contact, leading to human-wildlife conflict.

The orangutan will be examined by the Orangutan Foundation’s vet, and then translocated into the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve, a protected area on 30^th August.

To date, 15 orangutans have been rescued in 2017, some being immediately translocated and others, too young for release, will go into the Foundation’s Soft-Release Programme. Please donate to support our rescue and release programme.

The Plight of Pongo Pygmaeus

We would like to share this post written by Justin Wateridge, Managing Director of Steppes Travel.

On Thursday many young people - perhaps a child, grandchild, niece or nephew of yours - received their A level results, but what does the future hold for them? Perhaps not one with pongo pygmaeus.

To you and me that is the Bornean orangutan which is now feared to have less than 50,000 individuals and hence last year it was listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the highest risk category. We hear much in the news about elephant ivory, rhino horn and the hunting of lions but little or nothing of the enigmatic man of the forest.

Yet every year orangutan populations are threatened because of their habitat, low-lying tropical rainforest, is being destroyed and converted to oil palm plantations. Orangutans and the majority of biodiversity supported by tropical rainforests cannot co-exist with oil palm plantations. The use of fire to clear land for plantations is an additional risk to an already serious threat.

An encroaching human population is adding to the orangutans' habitat loss. Last year the Orangutan Foundation rescued many more threatened animals than they have before - only half of these were orangutans, the rest were a diverse range of forest creatures including sun bears, leopard cats and slow loris.

Having just come back from Indonesian Borneo, I met with the inspiring Ashley Leiman on Wednesday to see what more Steppes Travel could do to support the Orangutan Foundation UK the only one of six orangutan agencies in the UK that has permanent projects of the ground.

Given that today is International World Orangutan Day I would urge you to think about what you can do to help, either directly via the Orangutan Foundation's website or better still by travelling with your family as I did to see orangutans in situ or join our revamped Orangutan Conservation tour.

Yes you can see orangutans in this country but only in a handful of zoos - Blackpool, Chester, Colchester, Durrell and Twycross and we believe there is no substitute for doing so in the wild.

Participants of the Steppes Travel Borneo group tour will be joined by an expert from the Orangutan Foundation, offering exclusive insight into our conservation projects taking place in Central Kalimantan.

Alternatively, you can support our Forest Restoration Programme in Indonesian Borneo by purchasing a copy of our book: "The Orangutan's World".  

This wonderful book provides a glimpse into the world of the orangutan through a collection of photographs of the flora and fauna found in Indonesian Borneo.

Orangutan, Bumi, Rescued With Bullet Wounds

On 19^th June 2017, BKSDA informed our field staff that they had just confiscated an orangutan from people who had been keeping it as a pet in a nearby village. This orangutan was entrusted into the care of the Orangutan Foundation.

The male orangutan was named Bumi (which means Earth in English) and was estimated to be about 3 and a half years old.

Our vet checked Bumi’s health and overall condition, which proved quite difficult as he wouldn’t stay still! He was anesthetized as it was vital that he was looked over thoroughly for any injuries or illness.

During the assessment, bullets were discovered in Bumi’s body. We are uncertain of the origin of the bullets, but it is likely a result of people attempting to shoot the mother to obtain the infant.

This, tragically, is how most orangutans enter our Soft-Release Programme.

In total, 7 bullets were removed from Bumi’s body. Bumi was given health supplements, and once he’d recovered from the operation, he was ready to join our Soft-Release Programme.

Bumi was taken to Camp Rasak in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve, Indonesian Borneo. Here he will be cared for alongside Endut, an orangutan of a similar age also rescued from being kept as a pet last March.

Staff report that since settling in Bumi appears to have a good appetite and has already displayed nest-making skills.

Watch this clip to see Bumi showing off his skills:

Please DONATE today to support the progress of Bumi and the other orangutans currently in our Soft-Release Programme.

Orangutan Foundation Welcomes New Arrival

In September 2015, Central Kalimantan was hit by major forest fires. Many orangutans needed rescuing from areas of burning forest and community land.

One such orangutan was Vania, a 29 year old female orangutan, named after a student who was doing research on orangutans in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve at the time. Vania and her 6 year old offspring (named Venty) were rescued from an oil palm plantation and released by Camp Buluh in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve.

Both are now in good health and are still frequently seen in the area. As shared yesterday, field staff have informed us that Vania gave birth on 25th May to an infant they have named Volvo.

Vania has been seen around camp since the birth to show off her new arrival.

Welcome Volvo to the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve!

Would you like to play an active part in the protection of Volvo's tropical forest home?

Become a guardian of Lamandau and help us ensure a future for orangutans, forests and people. Click here for more information.

The Lamandau Wildlife Reserve

We are delighted to be able to convey the news that two of our soft-release orangutans, Jessica and Ketty, have now been released into the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. Staff are confident both will go on to living fulfilling lives in the wild, free from the threat of habitat loss.

In light of this positive news and #RainforestLive, we are introducing a new initiative in support of the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve.

Become a guardian and actively protect:

• 158,144 acres of tropical peat forest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo
• 500 critically endangered orangutans - a number which continues to increase as more are rescued and released
• thousands of threatened species including gibbons, sun bears and clouded leopards
• 5 million tonnes of stored carbon.

A regular gift of £16.50 a month or a one-off donation of £200 for the year (the equivalent of 55p a day) will contribute towards the management of the Reserve.

Visit our webpage for more information on how to become a guardian.

Meet Our Soft-Release Orangutans - Part 3

In this blog entry we focus on Camp Rasak, where orangutans in the final stage of the soft-release programme before their release into the wild are monitored. The Lamandau Wildlife Reserve in Indonesian Borneo is a protected reintroduction site, where rescued orangutans can be released safely.

From this Reserve we run our Soft-Release Programme for rescued orangutans too young to return to this wild. Watch this short clip to find out how this programme equips these orangutans for a life in the forest:

Reintroduction Camps

There are 5 Camps located in Lamandau:

Depending on the age and development of the orangutan they are placed into one of the camps which is best suited for their needs. Camp staff monitor all rescued orangutans.

Currently we have 10 orangutans within our soft-release programme.

Meet the orangutans being cared for at Camp Rasak…

Endut

Endut is a 3 year old male who was rescued last March, named after his rather round belly. Endut is improving his climbing skills and has become much braver in the past couple of months, but is still has a way to go in order to be ready for release.

Ketty

Daughter of Korin, a reintroduced orangutan who inhabited the forest around Camp Gemini. Korin sadly disappeared in 2013 and Ketty was found alone. Since joining the Programme Ketty has come along in leaps and bounds, or should we say, climbs and swings!

At 5 years of age,she's always displayed skills more advanced than the orangutans being cared for alongside her, which is likely a result of spending some time with her mother in her early years.

Jessica

Jessica was rescued from a local town where she was being kept as a pet in 2016. In spite of this she retained her natural instincts well and didn't take long to adapt to life in the trees. At 5 years of age, she is advanced in her progress, displaying excellent survival skills.

What Next…?

After keeping a close watch on Ketty and Jessica, staff are now confident that they have the skills required to live in the wild: nest-building, finding food, and climbing to the top of the canopy.

The Soft-Release Programme exists within the same area of forest where orangutans are released. As past experience has shown, once released orangutans are often seen in the forest around camp so we are able to continue to keep a watchful eye on them.

Following release, orangutans are monitored for two weeks so that staff can ensure they are adapting well to living independently. Once released, we hope all will go on to live fulfilling lives in the wild, away from the threat of habitat loss and human activity.

Next week we follow the release of Ketty and Jessica!

Support our Soft-Release Programme and adopt an orangutan today.

All proceeds from our Adoption Scheme go towards medical treatment, food and care of these orangutans during their time in soft-release.