Meet Sampito, a male orangutan who recently arrived at Camp JL, in the Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Central Kalimantan, Borneo.
Sampito is thought to be about 3 years old and was rescued by the Indonesian Government’s Agency for the Conservation of Natural Resources (BKSDA SKW II) from a village near the town of Sampit. Sampito’s mother was most likely killed as their forest habitat was cleared to make way for oil palm plantations or because she was considered an agricultural pest.
After a few days of checkups and monitoring at the local BKSDA office in Pangkalan Bun, Sampito was taken by the Orangutan Foundation’s vet, Dr Fikri, to the Lamandau River Reserve.
When Sampito reaches his ideal body weight and is considered fit and healthy by Dr Fikri he will be gradually be allowed out into the forest to play and explore. He will be returned to the holding cage at night. Once the Foundation staff are happy that Sampito can find enough food to eat and that can make a nest to sleep in then he will no longer return to his cage. Field staff will follow and monitor Sampito to ensure he copes with living in the wild without his mother.
We would like to thank Colchester Zoo's Action for the Wild Fund for their support of our Vet Programme.
More news to follow soon….
Thank you,
