update from Borneo

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends of the Orangutan,

 

I will try to fully update you when I return from

Borneo next week, but in the meantime, if you are

interested, here are excerpts from an e-journal I have

been writing for the schoolchildren.

 

Michelle

 

Day 1 (Christmas Eve)

 

After about 36 hours of travel, I arrived in

Central Borneo. As the plane descended through the

cloud cover on my arrival, the Sebangau Forest came

into view, looking like a million heads of broccoli.

Unfortunately, upon closer observation, I noticed the

many criss-crossing, perfectly straight logging trails

cutting deep into the forest. These incursions will

open the forest for relentless and quick destruction,

as well as giving hunters easier access to the

orangutans surviving there.

 

A few minutes later, I saw the edge of the

forest, the clear-felling encroaching like a gaping

wound. There were only a few skeletal remains of

trees here, bleached white by the fierce Equatorial

sun. Trunks of small, less valuable trees were

scattered like so many matchsticks, which is exactly

what they are. In the dry season, these will burn out

of control, blackening the sky for hundreds of miles

and putting the adjacent forest at great risk. Every

time I visit, I witness the ever-increasing

destruction of the forest, and it deeply saddens me to

think of ALL the thousands of animals that have

perished as a result.

 

That afternoon at Nyaru Menteng, dozens and dozens of

orangutans tumbled out of the forest, some hand in

hand, others walking on two feet and some

somersaulting as they approached the evening play

area. At the end of each day, all the groups of

orangutans from all over the forest reconvene here to

have an hour or so of play or rest, plus lots of

eating, before they go off to bed. Like children,

some doze off straight away, exhausted from their busy

day, but most remain very playful and can be quite

“nakal” (naughty) about coming in to bed. These

little ones don’t yet build nests for themselves, so

they sleep in large group cages, filled with nesting

platforms and nesting materials, swings and toys. The

smallest ones of all sleep in laundry baskets filled

with leaves. The babysitters stay all night with

them, feeding them whenever they are hungry.

 

Altogether there are now 109 orangutans in baby

school alone (out of over 300 at the centre). Last

time I visited there were about 40, and the first

time, just 12. Their numbers are more than tripling

every year, which indicates the problem is getting

worse...more and more mothers are being killed for

these babies to be captured, and for each one we

successfully rescue, at least 3 or 4 have died. If we

can’t successfully protect the forest in which they

live, the number of orangutans at our centre will

continue to increase.

 

Amongst this vast number of seemingly similar

youngsters, I instantly recognised many of my old

friends-orangutans I had known and cared for in the

past. Of course, they were bigger and fatter now, but

their faces remain nearly the same. Many came up to

the window to greet me: Nabima, Sumo, Dancow, Taruna,

Koko and Martizen, all of whom I have known since they

were VERY small indeed!

 

The orangutans almost seem to be performing,

but they really are NOT bothered whether they have an

audience or not. They get up to such antics! One

orangutan was standing on two feet, holding his arms

over his head, and another snuck up behind and pulled

his foot out from under him! Others find a piece of

wood, some leaves or the rind of a watermelon and

place these on their heads, and proceed to parade

about showing off their new headwear. Most orangutans

play fight, but unlike children, they don’t seem to

fall out as a result of an over-zealous thump.

Another orangutan lay down on her back, grasped both

feet in the air with her hands and proceeded to rock,

just like a rocking chair.

 

Day 2 Christmas Day

 

Today, instead of a visit from Father Christmas we got

a visit from a 2 metre long python as thick as a man’s

leg! The babysitters were more scared than the

orangutans, but their panic helped to teach the little

ones to watch out for snakes. Three men had to carry

it out and put it into a forest with no orangutans.

 

 

A new little orangutan was rescued today. He was

covered in dreadlocks as a result of living in his own

filth inside a tiny dark cage almost all his life. We

cut off his dreadlocks, leaving him with hair of many

different lengths and named him Marley, after the

reggae singer Bob Marley. He is so frightened; he

sits with hunched shoulders, his head slunk deep into

his chest and just looks left to right over and over

as if waiting for something terrible to happen. When

he is picked up he pushes away from whoever his

carrying him with his legs straight out and knees

locked. He makes no sound. Under Marley’s hair he is

just skin and bones and his muscles are all atrophied

from being in a cage hardly bigger than him, where all

he did all day was turn around in circles. He

eventually took a little walk, very slowly, to hide

under a thick, lush tree in the cool darkness. There

he methodically moved leaf litter from one side of him

to the other. He does not seem to know how to open

fruit like bananas and oranges by himself. It will be

a long road to recovery for this little guy.

 

In the afternoon, just as the orangutans were settling

into their play, I rolled a half dozen balls to them.

ALL were watching me, most unsure, a few curious.

Several ran away from the balls, but a few brave souls

gathered them up. Within seconds one was punctured,

creating the perfect orangutan sized helmet. One

orangutan threw his a little up and forward and caught

it, repeatedly, as he walked around the play area.

Some fought over them. One ball went up a tree (and

dropped). Eventually, most of the orangutans had a go,

and it was well worth the £4 I spent on them!

Meanwhile, gorgeous little Taruna showed off for me

and just kept being cute...I fell quite in love with

her!

 

Day 3 Boxing Day

 

In the afternoon, my Martizen came to see me through

the window a few times, as well as a couple of other

curious souls who do not yet know me. Martizen was so

tiny and clumsy when I first met him. Then he didn’t

even know how to hold onto a branch. Now he is a big

strong boy climbing high in the trees all day long.

Centil and her new baby had been taken out of her cage

for a bit of a play and climb, but refused to return

until quite late. Eventually, smells from the outdoor

kitchen caught her attention and she came down to

investigate. Lone collected her and escorted her back

to her sleeping quarters, and every single orangutan

desperately wanted to have a look at the baby. Dozens

and dozens of orangutans were following her and trying

to catch a glimpse, like paparazzi trying to

photograph a superstar!

 

Day 4 (27th December)

 

I spent the first couple of hours of the day watching

over Marley, though I still can’t touch him because of

my quarantine. (I had the help of David, our vet as

well). Today, Marley won’t eat or drink and just sits

perfectly still under his cool, dark tree. His head

is still deep into his chest and he is hunched over.

He now protests like made and screams when he is

picked up or someone takes his hand. Lone is able to

stroke him but nothing more at this point, without

stressing him. It takes a lot of patience when they at

first refuse any tenderness at all, because they don’t

understand it and don’t trust it. It takes a lot of

time as well. I feel confident though that our staff

will be able to help Marley...I’ve seen this so often

with so many new babies, but now after the years, they

are happy and healthy and living in the forest, and it

makes it all worth it.

 

Got back from town just in time for the babies’ daily

pilgrimage, and some guests that had arrived. They

are missionaries who operate helicopters to get food

and supplies to deprived and remote communities. They

also help us when we have to rescue or release

orangutans in remote places...the helicopter can get

where trucks and boats can’t. Sadly, the missionary

group is thinking of moving operations to Sulawesi,

which means we won’t have this help anymore. We are

very worried about how we are going to do rescues and

releases without the helicopters and pilots upon which

we have depended for years.

 

The family brought their 3 small children, and the

orangutans were soooo interested in them! But since

they haven’t been tested for Hepatitis and TB, the

people could not get too close to the orangutans. The

orangutans didn’t seem to know that rule and they all

kept approaching wanting to play, and the staff were

constantly scrambling to collect them and bring them

back. Just as they moved one back, another one would

try to come and play. It became very silly after

awhile, but it was clear that the orangutans were

winning the game. Lone asked me to get the large soft

toy orangutan from the office. The orangutans are

frightened of this toy and will not approach if it is

in the vicinity. Most orangutans are scared of any

toy that has eyes and will stay well away. We sat the

toy orangutan between the guests and the orangutans

and then they were able to view and photograph without

any problem. Lone went to fetch Keke, one of my

favourite orangutans. She is 100% blind but one of

the best with forest skills and nest making! She is

already 6 years old and bigger than Lone (not yet

bigger than me though!), but she is about the most

gentle orangutan you could ever meet. She just sits

in your lap with her arms around you and blows kisses

at you. She loves for me to blow into her mouth,

which when I am with her I do for her. If, however, I

stop to talk to someone, she will gently take my face

in both her hands and put it back in front of hers and

open my mouth in order to tell me to blow some more.

 

Lots of people send us soft toys, which aren’t the

best. If they have eyes as they most likely do, there

are only a few orangutans brave enough to handle them.

And those orangutans immediately pluck or bite out

the eyes. Then it is usually a matter of minutes

before they have successfully disembowelled the entire

victim. We gave them 3 soft toys today, and their

fluffy white innards were scattered all over the

ground. We had a white Christmas after all! The

stuffing is even more fun than the toy itself so they

got endless joy out of this. Actually, one soft toy

survived the attack and remained intact even after 2

hours of constant abuse. (This was Peter Rabbit).

 

Day 5 (28th December)

 

This afternoon, I went out with my bodyguard (the big

toy orangutan) to watch the babies...but they are

learning!!! Taruna, Nabima and Bim Bim are no longer

afraid of the toy and approached me as if it were

nothing at all. So, I had to go back inside and watch

from the window. It started to rain heavily so they

all went into their indoor quarters early. The

electricity went out again so we could do no work, and

we talked and talked about research. Whilst we were

talking our rescue team returned from the palm oil

plantations with 2 rescued wild orangutans...a huge,

fully grown male with cheek pads and a female. After

they are tested for diseases, treated and completed

quarantine, they will be transferred to a safer

forest.

 

Today, Marley ate all his rambutans (his favourite

fruit, literally translated “hairy fruit” because it

has long thick hairs on it). He was delighted to be

given a box to play with and to sleep in.

 

DAY 6 (29th December)

 

Today, Marley was doing really well. He talks

now—little squeaks which sound a bit like he is

saying, “Hey! Hi there! It’s me! Come and see me!

Let’s chat!” He ate bananas, cucumbers, aubergine,

sugar cane and rambutans and drank plenty of milk. I

think he will be alright after all. I went to see him

several times throughout the day so he can get to know

me and not be scared. It seems to be working.

 

I also went to visit some other orangutans:

Centil and Dewi with their new babies, Hercules, the

big male, and Iqbal, an old friend who is almost black

like a chimpanzee. The new wild orangutans were in the

back, a little out of sight (for their own good—it is

less stressful), and the male is HUGE!

 

 

 

This afternoon, it was raining off and on, and like

children, the orangutans became a little bonkers as a

result. They were complete clowns all afternoon, and

had us laughing out heads off at the tricks they get

up to; mostly silly acrobats and funny faces and

noises, or beating the life out of each other and

laughing all the while. Keke crawled into a rice sack

and lay there very still, until someone would come

over to get the rice sack and she’d jump out and

attack, scaring them half to death. Taruna climbed

onto the ledge of the office window and fell off (all

of about half a metre!) and looked very glum about it.

Sumo went round and sat on top of everybody, quite

pleased with himself. I finally laid eyes on a little

orangutan I looked after last time I was here, named

Holly. Before she had hardly any hair and was a very

sad little girl, completely unsure about herself and

the world. But today she is full of life, with long

rich hair and a playful demeanour. Once again, despite

the overwhelming changes, I still recognised her face

immediately.

 

DAY 7 (30th December)

 

I worked in the office for a few hours, taking

frequent breaks to go see Marley, who we now call

Bahawan officially (and Wan for short). He has taken

to his behaviour of walking in circles in his cage.

It is hoped when he is through with quarantine, and

has access to the whole forest, that this

stereotypical behaviour will stop.

 

DAY 8 (New Year’s Eve)

 

I went to see Bahawan first thing when I got in. He

had somewhat managed to open his own bananas, but had

obviously made a pig’s ear of it. They looked as if

he had tried to squeeze the banana out like a tube of

toothpaste. He drank a huge amount of milk. He likes

to fill his very large mouth with its stretchy lips

and swish it around for a long time before he swallows

it.

 

Tragically, one of the rescued wild orangutans died in

the night, a big male. The autopsy indicated that the

poor guy was filled with infection, including his

lungs, which may indicate he died of advanced

tuberculosis (TB). The disease is highly infectious,

and if he did have it, all of the staff that has

worked with him in quarantine will need to be checked.

It is unfortunate that it was too late for us to do

anything to help him.

 

Later in the day, our rescue team returned with

a female and her baby. It seems like every couple of

days we rescue another orangutan or two...there are so

many now as they clear the forests to make oil palm

plantations. Unless we get there first, when a grown

orangutan appears in an area with humans, it will be

killed, and usually the babies are taken as pets or to

be sold. Luckily, we have made friends in the

communities and they let us know when an orangutan has

been sighted so that we can act quickly to rescue it.

 

Throughout the day I continued to visit Bahawan. If

he is in his nesting basket he will come down to greet

me; I am only frustrated that I can’t give him a

reassuring cuddle yet. He is quite funny...when

somebody gives him a piece of fruit, he turns his nose

up at it. But if you leave it there and walk away,

and then spy on him, he will THEN pick up the fruit

and eat it. The same thing with leaves: give him some

leaves to make a nest and he defiantly throws them out

again. Go away for awhile and you will find he has

collected them back up and made a nest. But when he

notices you back, he will dismantle his nest and throw

his leaves out again.

 

During the day, the men laid out some pebbles over a

muddy area near the baby house. When the babies came

home it was the first thing they noticed. They walked

back and forth over them, presumably because they like

the feel of them underfoot. A few played with them

like marbles on the slick tile steps going into baby

house. One stole a purple sock from the washing line

and filled it up with pebbles, carefully selected, one

by one. A few escaped to the washing line and

dismantled it before anyone could stop them. Louie

wore his watermelon rind like a hat, but it kept

slipping down over his face. Martizen got a huge bunch

of bananas, still on the stalk and swung it about, the

bananas flying off in every direction. Just a normal

afternoon at Nyaru Menteng.

 

DAY 9 (New Year’s Day)

 

Most of today I spent looking after Bahawan.

One of the vets took him out of his cage for some

exercise, but he went straight under his favourite

tree. He obviously felt safe there. Every now and then

the vet would take him out from under the tree and put

him somewhere else, but he went straight back for his

tree. I suggested to the vet that I could look after

Bahawan for awhile and she agreed. I decided to let

Bahawan sit under his tree as long as he liked, and

I’d sit nearby so he’d grow to trust me. Every few

minutes I called his name softly, as I do when I visit

him, so that he can learn it and my voice. He sat

there for about an hour, slowly inspecting the leaves

and dirt and branches. Then, of his own accord, he

stood up and went for a wander. He walked round to

places he had not been before and even started to

climb the bamboo. Bamboo can make little orangutans’

hands itch so Jolan moved him to the forest. (I am

still in quarantine so I can’t pick him up!) In the

forest, he also went on walkabout on the forest floor,

drank some water from the stream and found himself a

lush patch to lie down in. Another hour there, testing

all the leaves around him for smell, taste and feel,

his eyes slowly taking in this whole new world, almost

as if he couldn’t believe it was all his! Judging by

his behaviour, he has probably spent just about his

whole life in that little cage: he doesn’t know how to

walk or climb properly, he doesn’t know how to hold

onto somebody when he is carried or picked up (which

is natural for babies from the moment they are born),

and everything seems so strange and new to him.

 

Bahawan had a little doze, but kept opening his

eyes every time a jungle animal made a sound. Then

he’d doze off again. Eventually he had a good long

sleep, undisturbed by the forest noises. When he woke

up, he saw me hanging on a liana with both hands (my

feet still on the ground...I’m getting a little old

for swinging too much like Tarzan!) He looked at one

of my hands and then the other, as if trying to make

sense of it. He gave a little squeak, walked over to a

tree near me, and carefully began to climb it. He

hugged the whole tree with his body and clung so

tightly, and even used his chin to help him along.

The tree was growing diagonally, so it wasn’t terribly

difficult climbing for your average orangutan, but it

was hard work for our little Bahawan. He went up

about 1 ½ metres and there he rested, still clasping

the tree with all his might for dear life. It was the

picture of determination!

 

Coming down from the tree was another lesson.

This took even longer than going up! But he did

succeed, capping it all off with a little squeak of

triumph. Then followed another bit of walkabout, this

time deeper into the forest. Another lush patch with

foliage of all types draped all about. Another hour of

intense exploration of these specimens, interrupted by

eating bananas and mangos enthusiastically. (He still

couldn’t open them himself and had ignored them up to

the point that I peeled them for him). Some time

later, the orangutans from the forest were on their

way back, and with Bahawan and myself still in

quarantine, it was time to return him to his

quarantine cage. : ( I started walking back and

called Bahawan after me, “Disini, Bahawan, kami

pulang” (Come here, Bahawan, time to go home...). And

he followed! It was slow going, so Jolan had to pick

him up, which he didn’t care for very much. Oh, but

he looked so sad to go back into his cage after a day

of discovery! Jolan gave him a towel to sleep with but

he threw it out. I gave him a little time to settle

back in and then gave him the towel back. He took it

up to his nesting basket and made a pillow and lay

down to sleep.

 

We had a severe rain storm in the

late afternoon, and all the youngsters huddled with

the babysitters under the eaves of the baby house to

wait it out, except for a few invincible characters

that stayed playing in the trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michelle Desilets

Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation UK

" Primates Helping Primates "

www.savetheorangutan.org.uk

www.savetheorangutan.info

Please sign our petition to rescue over 100 smuggled

orangutans in Thailand:

http://www.thePetitionSite.com/takeaction/822035733

 

=====

Michelle Desilets

BOS UK

www.savetheorangutan.org.uk

www.savetheorangutan.info

" Primates Helping Primates "

 

Please sign our petition to rescue over 100 smuggled orangutans in Thailand:

http://www.thePetitionSite.com/takeaction/822035733

 

 

 

 

 

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