ORANGUTANS
Orangutans are a keystone species in the tropical rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. By ensuring their future, we can also safeguard the future of many other species.
Rescue and Release
Our team in Indonesia are on call to assist BKSDA (Natural Resources Conservation Agency for Central Kalimantan) with orangutan rescues. With 80% of orangutans live outside of protected areas, they are at high risk of conflict with humans.
In the past, rescues occurred mostly in oil-palm plantations, however, we are increasingly attending rescues in villages and community gardens, highlighting the increasing possibility for human-wildlife conflict.
The continued loss of their habitat and changing seasons due to climate change (which impacts fruit availability) will only increase this threat and need for rescues in the future.
Learn more about how we are working with communities to reduce habitat encroachment and human-orangutan conflict.
Soft-release programme
When we rescue orphaned orangutans, they are often too young to be released back into the wild, having been separated from their mothers and kept as illegal pets in cages from as young as a few weeks old.
Our soft-release programme is run across our release camps in Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. Here the young orangutans are given a second chance at an independent life in the wild, with a safe place to sleep at night and a protected forest to explore during the day. The orangutans are cared for by our camp staff and receive monthly health checkups from our team of vets to ensure they live a healthy and happy life.
Before the orangutans can graduate from our soft-release programme, they must be able to demonstrate that they are capable of climbing, foraging and nest building
Currently we care for six orangutans in our soft-release programme and to date 24 orphaned orangutans have been released back into Lamandau Wildlife Reserve.
Meet the soft-release orangutans
Population monitoring
Our five release camps in Lamandau Wildlife Reserve operate as our post-release monitoring programme. The population of orangutans in the Reserve combine reintroduced, wild, and soft-release orangutans.
By monitoring the local orangutan population, we can gain valuable insights into their behaviours and ensure that conservation decisions improve their quality of life. The ongoing monitoring programme also allows us to record family lineages, measure our impact, and ensure released orangutans settle into their new habitat. To date we have recorded over 100 wild orangutan births in the Reserve from both wild and reintroduced orangutans!
Help us continue monitoring and safeguarding this habitat for orangutans like Sheila and Silva (pictured) and join a community of passionate orangutan advocates!
