Dear Friend of OFI,
Until recently, orangutan rehabilitation programs were inundated with orphans whose mothers had been slaughtered because of massive deforestation. The number of orphans coming into orangutan rehabilitation in Borneo reflected the acceleration of forest clearing for industrial agriculture, illegal logging, settlement and road construction, and the opening of mining concessions. Remnant logged forests were usually burned and cleared further to make way for palm oil.
Just as this forest clearing was accelerating, we built a specialized Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine (OCCQ) with a veterinary hospital where up to 40 orphan orangutans could be cared for by experienced veterinarians. Unfortunately, shortly after the OCCQ was built, massive forest fires broke out in Borneo. Thousands of people died of smoke inhalation, respiratory disease, and air pollution. By the time we opened the facility, it was already over capacity as in the previous year we had received over 80 new orphans. And the orangutans kept coming. We built extra camps and released as many rehabilitated orangutans as we could over the years.
The situation improved as the Indonesian government tightened enforcement on illegal logging and orangutan poaching. Then the next major disaster struck. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 disrupted everything. We could not release orangutans from the OCCQ. We focused our energy on keeping orangutans and human staff safe from the virus. Fortunately, orangutans in our facilities never contracted COVID.
| Orangutan Lear as an infant, adolescent, and fully flanged adult – just before his release back to the wild. His full rehabilitation took more than ten years. |
Today we find ourselves in crisis. We have over a hundred rehabilitated orangutans who are ready to go back in the wild. These are the orangutans who grew but could not be released during the COVID pandemic years. When wild adult male orangutans mature and become flanged with cheekpads they become intolerant of other males. Suddenly after years of COVID shutdown, we were faced with a cohort of adult males who had grown during the period of no releases. These males now need individual housing while they await release. They need sleeping cages large enough so they can move and swing freely from the ropes and hammocks provided. These adult males may now only be released one at a time in separate areas of the forest, unlike females who can be released several at a time in one location. Many orangutans, especially females, almost immediately adapt to life in the wild after rehabilitation and release. But males sometimes do not. It is more difficult for them because of intense male-male competition in the wild and the male nomadic lifestyle which differs from the more sedentary life of wild females.
“It takes years to rehabilitate an orangutan. The process is not quick nor easy.”
After the COVID pandemic we also experienced situations when released orangutans acted confused, despite daily forest excursions during rehabilitation where they make tree nests and happily forage in the canopy. We built island sanctuaries enclosing primary rain forest to ensure that every rehabilitated orangutan is thoroughly acclimatized to conditions in the wild before release. It’s sad but true. Some orangutans need safe forest sanctuaries and much time to recover from emotional and mental issues resulting from traumas suffered when they lost their mothers and began lives in captivity.
Adult male Jacko is one such orangutan. Jacko was taken captive during infancy. Until he was rescued, he spent his entire life in a tiny bamboo crate which did not even allow him to stand up. When rescued by the Forestry department and given to the Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN), he was emaciated, covered with fleas, and had been living amidst a pile of rubbish and feces with no shelter from the rain or equatorial sun. After three years in JAAN’s care and doing better, he was relocated to the OCCQ in 2017 where he was released into a large sleeping cage. He seemed excited and briefly swung as though he was brachiating even though he had not been in a forest since he was a newborn at his mother’s breast. However, he initially lunged at people when they so much as approached his cage. Eventually, he stopped these aggressive displays. This year in preparation for his release to the wild we moved Jacko to a forested sanctuary. He still seems traumatized. He refuses to climb into the trees or even enter forested areas, sleeps on the ground, and spends his time walking around the inner perimeter of the sanctuary. Sometimes he sits with his face pressed against the concrete walls and totally ignores the friendly orangutan females who share the sanctuary with him.
Hopefully Jacko’s journey will replicate that of adult male orangutan Ricky whom we received as an adolescent who self-identified with people. When released into a forest island, Ricky slept on the ground, engaged in slapping contests with friendly orangutan females housed with him, and refused to climb into the trees. Now after six years in a forested island sanctuary, Ricky expertly climbs trees, brachiates like a pro, vocalizes long calls, displays at humans, and since last year has finally started sleeping in the canopy. He also holds his own against adult females who once intimidated him. Ricky’s behavioral change has been remarkable. He is a totally different individual. But it took six years! We hope that eventually Jacko will follow Ricky’s trajectory, overcome his traumas, start climbing into the trees, and eventually sleep in the canopy.
I once said “It takes years to rehabilitate an orangutan. The process is not quick nor easy.”
Sometimes, the trauma that ex-captives have experienced requires extra care, compassion, and time before they truly recover and adapt to freedom on their own.
We urgently need your help. We still have 255 orangutans under our care, a number of whom are now adult males. We need to release them as quickly as possible. In order to do so, we urgently need to build island forest sanctuaries so we can safely acclimatize these orangutans to life in the wild before they are permanently released. A forest sanctuary one hectare (2.5 acres) in size costs $65,000. We also need at least eight new large steel enclosures for the adult males who await their turn to go into a forest sanctuary before eventual release. A large cage which allows orangutans to freely move up and down mimicking natural movements in the forest costs $22,500.
It will take time but it can be done. Please help us return the orangutans under our care back to the wild. Orangutans deserve no less. Please help them!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping. Thank you for your previous support in the past.
In deepest gratitude,
Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas
President & Founder
Orangutan Foundation International
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