Photo of Indonesian wildfire  Photo credit: Ulet Ifansasti NY Times       Dear Friends of OFI, From June until October 2019 OFI staff were once again called upon to fight fierce fires that threatened orangutan habitat, national forests, OFI facilities and release sites. Wildfires such as these ravage primary forest, orangutan habitat, and reduce it to smoke […]

Cruelty that humans sometimes exhibit to wildlife including our closest living relatives in the animal kingdom, the great apes, is always devastating to see. Here in Borneo we occasionally confront situations where we encounter badly beaten orangutans. As human-orangutan conflict increases because of forest conversion for human use such as agriculture, these instances of cruelty […]

Let’s talk about Judy! Orphan orangutans who are kept in private households are often placed in situations completely outside of their normal understanding. Judy was one of these as she arrived at the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine (OCCQ) wearing human clothes. This is something that has happened on more than one occasion when “pet” […]

The release of an orangutan back to the wild is a culmination of many years of hard and dedicated work. It is a profound moment when wild born ex-captive orangutans are finally released and free to live as they choose in the forest. It is not a straight and narrow path and, very, very occasionally, […]