From the President - Borneo Orangutan Survival Australia
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Issue 36 | June 2021 BOS Australia | + 61 2 9011 5455 | PO Box 3916 Mosman NSW 2088
From the President …
Welcome to our newest edition adoption parents, must have been As always, enjoy the reading and
of Forest Chatter! I am thrilled to when you received the exciting news thank you for your continuous
begin this issue just like the last about your orangutan’s huge step support. It is only because of you
one - with great news. towards freedom. that we can achieve our ultimate
However, there are many more goal: To give orangutans the
After our successful releases in
orangutans in our care that are freedom they deserve.
February, we have now released 15
more orangutans in April and June. desperately waiting to go home. Will Tony Gilding, President
Once again, with strict COVID-19 you help us get them out of their
protocols in place. Seven orangutans cages? Thanks to two incredibly
generous donors, every dollar you
moved to Bukit Baka Bukit Raya
give to our tax appeal by 30 June will
National Park in Central Kalimantan,
be matched up to a total of $50,000.
and eight to Badak Besar Island
Please don’t miss this wonderful
in the Salat Island Cluster in East
chance to double your impact!
Kalimantan (see pages 2 and 3).
In this issue, we also share with you
The latter group includes familiar the heartbreaking stories of three
faces: Cinta, Jumbo and Valentino. rescued babies. And we introduce
All three were long time favourites of you to the manager of our Mawas
our adoption program. We can only Conservation Program, Bang Uji.
imagine how proud you, our valued
Three babies rescued
In the last months, we rescued claimed to have found Onyer alone A farmer claimed to have found the
three infant orangutans. Their in a forest not far from his field. On infant while he was out fishing. He
stories are heartbreaking. All his first day in our centre, Onyer was took care of her for about one week
three lost their mum and are very nervous, especially at night. He before voluntarily handing her over.
now under the care of surrogate cried whenever a surrogate mother Luckily, she was generally in good
mothers in our Nyaru Menteng stood up. Probably out of distress health. We later named her Aiko,
Rehabilitation Centre. that they might leave him alone. which means “little loved one” in
The first arrival was Onyer (in the 6-month-old Ramangai was handed Japanese. It was the winning choice
photo). He was rescued by members over to us by another villager, who of our naming competition.
of the Central Kalimantan Natural claimed to have discovered the male “The rescued babies indicate that
Resources Conservation Agency. infant in a forest while hunting for deforestation and irresponsible
They confiscated the 10-month- birds. The man reported that he was exploitation of forest ecosystems is
old male from a villager, who later shocked to suddenly see a baby still ongoing”, says Denny Kurniawan,
orangutan fall from a tree without Nyaru Menteng Program Manager.
any trace of its mother. Therefore, “This is what ultimately prompts
he decided to take him home. The wild orangutans to roam into human
first three days, he fed the infant only gardens and fields in search of
coffee and bananas, which resulted food and causes the human-wildlife
in Ramangai becoming severely conflict.”
dehydrated and weak. Onyer, Ramangai and Aiko have now
Shortly after, a 9-month-old female entered Nursery School - the first step
joined the two male babies. of their long journey to freedom.
www.orangutans.com.au
Homeward bound
What does freedom smell, sound, Megawati Soekarnoputri, was visiting hence his name. His story is similar to
feel, look and taste like? Musty? our rehabilitation centre in Nyaru Cinta’s. A sad one. A rubber planter
Like birds twittering? Raindrops Menteng at the time and gave her rescued him in 2015. When Valentino
touching your skin? A lush green? the name ‘Cinta”, which means ‘love’ (photos below) arrived at our centre,
Fresh fruits? We can only imagine. in Indonesian. he was in deplorable condition.
It must be like the joy of fireworks Cinta grew up into an energetic, Wounds covered the tiny five to
awakening all senses when the funny, and self-confident orangutan six-month-old baby, and his skin
transport cage finally opens, girl. In Forest School, she was known was crusty and irritated. As he was
and bars give way to branches, as the little princess as she was quite pretty comfortable around humans,
treetops, open space. demanding and wouldn’t let go until we assume that someone must have
The journey to freedom continues. she got her way. taken him away from his mum shortly
After successfully releasing 13 after being born.
“The good thing is, Cinta is quite
orangutans in February, we recently independent”, says her surrogate Veterinarian Arga Sawung Kusuma
transferred another seven home to mother, Ibu Sri. “She likes to climb remembers Valentino’s first time
the wild (see page 3) and eight more high, explore, and move through the in Nyary Menteng very well. “We
to a pre-release island. trees, and when she sees a threat rubbed him with oil every day, which
Three of the lucky ones that from a predator, she does not back created a close bond between the
moved from our Nyaru Menteng down. She would reach for a stick to veterinary team and Valentino.”
Rehabilitation Centre to Badak Besar smack them.” As hard as it was for Who would have thought that this
Island in the Salat Island Cluster are Ibu Sri to say goodbye to her girl, little tortured infant would become
familiar faces: Cinta, Jumbo and she knows that Cinta is now exactly the class clown in Forest School!
Valentino. All three are part of our where she wants her to be: just one Intelligent, innovative, creative.
adoption program and stars on the step away from her true home in the “Valentino is very slick”, says Vet
documentary series ‘Orangutan Bornean rainforest. Arga. “When he was in Forest
Jungle School.’ You can think of a pre-release island School, instead of looking for food
Cinta (photos above) holds the as a university for orangutans who deliberately hidden by the surrogate
record. She has been one of our have successfully graduated from mothers, he knew it was more
adoptable orangutans since 2013, Forest School. We still look after the effective to try and steal directly
the year we rescued her. It was on students by providing supplemental from their bags or other orangutans.”
14 February when our team received food and making sure they are Jumbo came to Nyaru Menteng
a call about an orangutan infant adapting well. But we will also just two days after Cinta, and both
in a palm oil plantation. When we give them more room to explore instantly became best cuddle
arrived, we found the female baby and thrive to grow into completely buddies. He was one year old at the
motherless, screaming and shivering. independent orangutans. time and luckily in good health. A
She was just around five months old Guess when Valentino entered our villager had found him in a field and
and weighed a tiny two kilograms. centre? It was on Valentine’s Day, looked after him for about a month
The former president of Indonesia, before handing him over.
www.orangutans.com.au
As he grew up and got bigger,
Jumbo (photos on the left) became
No better time
quite cheeky and strong, his for giving!
surrogate mothers remember. “He
Have you ever wondered how it
would climb on one of us and threw
feels to release an orangutan? It is
twigs at the others or pull down our
an experience you will remember
woven baskets from behind while we
forever! Pure joy and relief.
were walking.”
Almost instantly, you forget that
Three orangutans, three tragedies, you are drenched in sweat, and
three success stories. Cinta, your body is tired from hours of
Valentino and Jumbo can now enjoy travelling and walking through
a free life on Badak Besar Island, and rough terrain, water and mud.
we couldn’t be more proud of them. You are finally there, right in the
How does freedom smell, sound, middle of the lush green Bornean
feel, look and taste like? rainforest. And then years of hard
work pay off in seconds when the
“Like something a bit scary” could
cage opens, and this beautiful red
have been Valentino’s answer. He
ape runs towards freedom.
was more hesitant than the others
when Vet Arga opened his cage. “I You can experience this feeling
thought that maybe he would not right from your home! By helping
want to leave it.” But then Valentino us release orangutans, you become
quickly scrambled out and into the part of our team. So far, we have
trees, where he foraged for leaves. released a total of 485 orangutans,
17 of them this year. But many more
For Jumbo, it could have been: “It
are fully rehabilitated and ready to
tastes like fresh fruit”. The nine-
go home!
year-old immediately shot out of his
cage and snatched some bananas, Why not use the end of this
completely ignoring the humans fiscal year to show your love and
around him. support for orangutans? The
great news is that two generous
And Cinta? A high tree captured her
donors have kindly offered to
attention. Hanin, who we released
match donations received by 30
earlier, had already climbed it and
June up to a total of $50,000. So,
was foraging for food. So, Cinta
your help and generosity will have
quickly joined her – eventually
double the impact. What are you
disappearing in the treetops of her
waiting for? Donate today!
well deserved new home.
i
Seven more went wild
We are thrilled to have successfully 22-year-old female Suayap’s story other performances. What a success
returned an additional seven is especially touching. Together for Suayap to now be able to live a
orangutans into the Bukit Baka with 48 other orangutans, she was free life in the forest!
Bukit Raya National Park (TNBBBR) repatriated from Thailand in 2006. Despite this wonderful news, we
in Central Kalimantan at the Until now, Suayap is only one of urgently need your support to bring
beginning of June. seven of them who completed the more rehabilitated orangutans
Our release team transported the rehabilitation process and could home. Every dollar helps and will be
four males and three females by be returned to the wild. All 48 had matched if you donate to our tax
land and river. They faced many been forced to live like humans for appeal by 30 June. Thank you in the
challenges along the journey, but entertainment in boxing shows and name of the orangutans!
their strong dedication and tireless
efforts led to freedom.
With the arrival of the seven new
individuals, the total number of
released orangutans in the TNBBBR
increased to 234 since 2016 –
including five wild-born babies.
Amber, Barlian, Darryl, Randy, Reren,
Suayap and Unggang are between
eight and 22 years old, and they
have all gone through a lengthy
rehabilitation process that took
between seven and 16.5 years.
SP OT L I G H T
HELLO, I AM BANG UJI
Jhanson Regalino is known to his disadvantaged communities, all captive by a local villager. At that
friends and colleagues as ‘Bang within the same working area. time, the residents didn’t see anything
Uji’. He has been working for the wrong with keeping an orangutan as a
Mawas Conservation Program What are your primary duties? pet, as it was common practice. They
in Central Kalimantan since its The main activities include forest did not even know that orangutans
inception in 2002. At present, he is rehabilitation through replanting, are protected by law. So, I had to
its Program Manager. peat restoration through canal delicately inform them of the law and
blocking, community empowerment explain the importance of leaving
Can you tell our readers what the through economic development orangutans in their habitat.
Mawas Conservation Program is? activities in 13 villages, community-
The Mawas Conservation Program based forest fire prevention and Are you happy with what you have
aims to protect and restore a control, and research support. achieved so far?
309,000-hectare peat swamp forest. Yes, but there is still plenty of room
This particular forest area had Can you describe the challenges for improvement and much work to
been severely damaged by a failed of working with the surrounding be done. I hope that the community
rice cultivation and development communities? empowerment and capacity-building
program, yet it is still home to The hardest part is getting them programs will continue to help the
thousands of wild orangutans. to accept our view without them communities within our working area.
feeling as if it contradicts their We can only do our conservation
What makes your job unique? lifestyle and beliefs. work through the support of external
We were the first within the parties. If the villagers are happy, our
BOS Foundation to work closely Can you share an example with us? efforts to protect the environment will
with a degraded environment, a I was involved in confiscating a receive support from them and be
wild orangutan population, and baby orangutan that was being held more successful.
Your feedback At BOS Australia, we value and respect our passionate and loyal
supporters and their opinions. We want to continually improve the way
we conduct our work and communicate with our donors and the general
matters! public. To help us be the best we possibly can, we have put together a
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Your feedback makes a difference!
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Borneo Orangutan Survival Australia Your donations provide food, shelter, protection, medicine and companionship
+ 61 2 9011 5455 for orangutans in our care. Visit www.orangutans.com.au to help us help them.
PO Box 3916 Donations by cheque are payable to Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS)
Mosman NSW 2088
Australia at PO Box 3916, Mosman NSW 2088.
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