Orangutan update from Borneo

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends of the Orangutan,

I am writing from the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan

Reintroduction Project in Central Kalimantan

(Indonesian Borneo). It has been some time since I

have been here (nearly a year!) and there have been

lots of changes and developments.

But let me go back a week or so, when I first left the

UK on this journey. The 22nd-23rd of November, I

attended a conference of the 3rd Roundtable on

Sustainable Palm Oil in Singapore. I was joined by

Helen Buckland, author of the Oil for Ape Scandal palm

oil report, Ed Matthew from Friends of the Earth UK,

Dr. Willie Smits, Chairperson of BOS, and Lone

Droscher Nielsen, project manager of Nyaru Menteng and

the catalyst behind the BOS palm oil campaign. On the

morning of the first day, I was interviewed, along

with Patrick Rouxel, who made the compelling film

“Losing Tomorrow” about the clear-felling of forests

and its effects on wildlife and humans, for Prime Time

NewsAsia International. The meeting had over 300

delegates, mostly palm oil industry people, but also

70 representatives of social and environmental NGO’s

from around the world. To say that there was some

tension between the industry people and the NGO’s is

to put it mildly. But I am proud to say that the NGO’s

held their ground and expressed their opinions with

conviction. Interestingly, there was a great deal of

reaction from the industry people to the BOS UK palm

oil campaign and documents, showing that the word has

gone out far and wide. All the copies of the Oil for

Ape Scandal report and the BOS pamphlet “Save

Orangutans from Extinction When You Next Shop” were

quickly picked up by the delegates who hadn’t already

had copies. (Please email me if you require a hard

copy of either of these documents or see the pdf’s on

www.SafePalmOil.org). In the General Assembly at the

end of the second day, the draft criteria were

approved by all the delegates, except one who

abstained. This represents an important first step

towards sustainable (non-destructive) palm oil, but

there is far to go to making it a reality on the

ground. It is hoped that with the input and efforts of

the several NGO’s driving this campaign, that we will

succeed in stopping conversion of rainforest to oil

palm as well as addressing the other important issues

such as human rights. A longer report of the

Roundtable meeting will be available from BOS UK

shortly.

From Singapore, Lone and I travelled back to Jakarta

and stayed at the idyllic Guest House of the Pusat

Primata (Schmutzer Primate Centre at Ragunan Zoo), and

the following morning Lone returned to Nyaru Menteng

whilst I went to the airport to meet a film crew from

S4C Wales. We were met by the ever-accommodating Waru

(name changed to protect his identity) from the XXXX

Rescue Centre in Jakarta, and having found a tiny

starving kitten in the hotel, I found this to be an

extraordinary bit of luck, as we were able to take the

kitten back to the centre immediately. A plate of dry

cat food was laid out and the kitten proceeded to

hoover up the food whilst standing, all four feet, in

it. I named him Slim.

We then drove out to the Ancol Circus, part of a huge

complex for recreation and tourism. Amongst other

animal shows, the circus presents a dreadfully

demeaning orangutan show, similar to those that we

campaign to end in Thailand, Cambodia and elsewhere.

We started with the sea lion show, the typical type of

thing where the animals balance things on their noses,

jump through hoops and clap their flippers. Then there

was the Multi-animal show, which featured two hungry

otters doing similar tricks, a sun bear who rode a

tricycle and a full grown hippo whose trick was to

open his mouth wide. Before the final orangutan show,

we saw the orangutans lying listlessly in the small,

bare cages they are kept in between the shows. In the

performance, there were 3 orangutans, two of them

about 6-7 years old and one about 2-3 years old. They

all looked dejected, and one in particular looked very

unwell. They were all terribly thin and lusterless.

They were made to dress up, clap their hands, lift

weights, ride bicycles, play basketball, dance, and

stand on their hands. The audience was delighted by

these shows, laughing hysterically when the animals

were made to do the most ridiculous of things. We

found it hard to pretend to be tourists, to feign

amusement and delight at this derogatory exploitation.

Pram has been investigating this and other performing

animal shows in Java for some time. He tells me that

the animals are fed only enough to keep them alive, so

that hunger (as well as fear) drive them to perform.

He has seen the animals beaten and punched, and they

live in terrible conditions. He has been trying to

end these horrific shows, but needs the help of the

international community to condemn them. Please won’t

you send a short, polite letter to ask the authorities

to put a stop to this?

On the 26th we flew to Palangka Raya to go to the

Nyaru Menteng Project. Joining us on our flight were

two orangutans and a proboscis monkey from the West

Java Rescue Centre. One orangutan, Ipon, was 3 years

old and the other, Cornell, was about 6-7. The young

female monkey was named Monique. When they were

offloaded from the plane, Cornell and Monique were

particularly stressed, and the team worked hard to get

their papers processed and get them to the centre as

soon as possible. Cornell was soon put into a

quarantine cage and Ipon was allowed to have a little

walkabout. Walk about he did! As well as run about and

climb about. He explored everywhere, like a small

hairy version of Livingstone, and clambered over giant

heaps of fruit trying a bite out of each type. Olympia

had found here way to the centre from the Midway

House, and Ipon was determined to make a friend of her

immediately, whether she wanted to or not. He embraced

the larger orangutan around her knees, and allowed

himself to be dragged along as she tried to flee.

A baby sun bear has been rescued, and will stay here

until we can transfer him with some others to our

Samboja Lestari Sun bear Sanctuary in East Kalimantan.

He is no bigger than a puppy, and just as playful.

We then delivered Tarzan, our largest wild male, to

Nyaru Menteng Baru, the new centre down the road,

where thanks to help from BOS Germany, a number of

large, extra strong cages have been built for the

rescued wild orangutans waiting for translocation to a

suitable release site. Several of the females have

babies, and there were a number of impressive males

with cheek pads. Contact with the wild orangutans in

holding is minimized, not only to lessen their stress,

but to prevent unwanted habituation that could prove

fatal in the future. As such, our visit was received

by a cacophony of kiss-squeaks, raspberries and other

indications of their annoyance at our intrusion. While

we waited for Tarzan to wake up from the tranquiliser,

Lone showed us the new knock-down cages for the

residents of the second midway house, which include a

number of my old friends, Deri, Keke, Martizen, and

Nabima. Opening this second midway house meant that a

number of them were able to graduate from baby school

and move over to the larger forest with stronger

trees, and to gain more independence and training.

This move most certainly represented a sigh of relief

on the part of the smaller individuals at baby school

who had thus far had to tolerate their boisterous and

rough play. The new center was built to house the

orangutans that we still hope to rescue one day from

Safari World in Thailand.

When we returned to the centre, the baby school

youngsters were returning from their day of learning

in the forest, for their late afternoon play at the

edge of the forest near the baby house. An amazing new

adventure playground has been built here for the

orangutans including swings and climbing frames made

from fallen wood and old strips of rubber tyres. A

number continue to play energetically in this

playground until the last light, and some beyond.

Others crashed out, spread eagle on the lawn,

exhausted from the day’s exuberant play.

Lone pointed out Pahawan in the crowd, the little

chap I looked after last time I was here. His face

was instantly recognisable, but his physique is

something altogether different. From the hunched over,

bony figure he once was, has emerged a fit little

fighter with long, thick hair. I remember when Lone

told me on the phone a few months back that our little

2-3 year old Pahawan was getting his adult teeth,

meaning he is closer to 6 -7 years old. Indeed, his

large head does correspond with this, but he maintains

the body of a 4 year old, no more. He is no longer

afraid of other orangutans, and plays confidently with

the other. He pursues me in the afternoons, but

regrettably I have not finished my quarantine period,

so I must avoid him.

Also in the crowd was little Lykke, who is not so

little anymore, but not too big either. Whenever she

sees Lone, who looked after her from a very young age,

she dashes directly over to her, pushing aside or

climbing over anything or anybody who gets in her way.

A few other orangutans I know were here, including

Taruna, Doren, Tara, and Bali, but there are many more

new arrivals I have not yet met.

I woke at 5:30 the next morning, in time to get to

the centre to see the babies wake up and come out for

their morning feed and play on the playground before

venturing in their smaller groups of 8 with their

caretakers to various parts of the forest. The

mornings see the orangutans more energetic than the

evenings, as they are rearing to go. Few seem to have

the problem I have of always wanting to have a bit

more of a lie in than is necessary. The babies are

weighed every morning to monitor any fluctuations in

weight which may indicate something. We followed group

4 into the forest for a bit of filming. Most of the

orangutans in this group were a bit unsure of the

large white people with their camera equipment, and

either took to the trees or the safety of their

caretaker in a hammock. But Margello was not afraid,

and enjoyed performing for the camera. The crew

remarked how luxurious her hair was, and Lone spoke of

the day she was found in a logger’s camp near to a

palm oil concession, completely hairless and covered

with a skin fungus. It was hard to believe this was

the same orangutan.

In the afternoon we went to the forest behind Lone’s

house where the littlest orangutans play and learn. It

is always a delight to watch their wobbly efforts at

navigating their mini-climbing frames, as they stick

out their tongues in deep concentration on the task.

We were introduced to Kesi, the orangutan featured in

the BOS UK baby orangutan appeal and the palm oil

pamphlet. Kesi’s hand had been chopped off by a

machete when her captor’s took her mother’s life.

Because of the patient nurturing of the amazing women

who look after the babies at Nyaru Menteng, Kesi is

now happy and confident, and to prove that to us she

climbed a tree and had a bit of a play. Kesi is one of

the orangutans on offer for adoption from BOS UK.

Another early morning the next day, as we had to

prepare for the release of two orangutans (and the

recently arrived proboscis monkey) onto Bangamat

Island, the island which was acquired for this purpose

by the generous contributions of BOS UK supporters. 8

year old Bento (male) and 6 year old Dian (female),

who had originally lived together in the same cage

with one owner, were the chosen ones. Neither had

seen forest for maybe 6- 8 years, since they were

captured at a young age. Too big for the midway

houses, but too weak for the toughness of the

socialization cages, Bangamat is the perfect place for

these two.

Both orangutans had to be tranquilised for the

transfer to the island, as they would become extremely

agitated. This is not always needed, but in this case

it was. We wanted them only groggy enough to be easy

to manage, but instead they went out completely. It

was a long wait for them to wake up with the antidote,

and we did not want to put them into their transport

cages until they were somewhat alert. Bento woke

first, but was not the malleable patient we had hoped

for. Instead, with an amazing burst of energy, he

made a run for it, whilst the men tried to secure him

and coax him into the cage. In doing so, he had a fine

roll in the mud before the men were successful. Dian

was much easier and happily and groggily went into her

cage.

We set off for Bangamat Island with the orangutans

and monkey on a gloriously sunny morning. It would be

the first time I would see the island that BOS UK paid

for, and being able to witness the release of these

animals onto it made me feel immensely proud. We

offloaded the cages onto the shore, and released the

proboscis monkey first. She ran straight up the

nearest tree, but not high, and honked at us

repeatedly. The orangutans in their cages were sleepy

again, and we did not dare release them until they

were more alert, thereby avoiding any accidents.

Bangamat residents Danur and Simona swung into the

scene and descended to peer into the cages of the

newcomers. Irritated that they were half asleep and

not coming out of their cages, the two of them rocked

and banged on the cages in a futile attempt to rouse

the inhabitants. Danur, far smaller than Bento,

discovered a dormant courageousness in himself, as he

taunted and displayed menacingly at the unresponsive

Bento. His girlfriend, Simona, became more interested

in throwing branches down at the film crew. Meanwhile,

Monique the monkey was not at all sure if she liked

her new home with these large hairy neighbours, and

she screamed at Danur or Simona whenever they came

near. Having chosen the hunky Welsh presenter, Iolo,

as her saviour, she followed him wherever he went,

honking little protestations of love to him all the

while. I showed her the leaves she should be trying to

eat, and she gobbled these up happily, but I was less

successful at teaching her to drink from the river.

She much preferred to drink from my water bottle,

despite the fact that her pendulous nose always got in

the way. Eventually, she did climb a tree or two and

fed herself, which was very satisfying to see.

Again, we waited a long time for the orangutans’

drowsiness to subside, but eventually they did emerge

from their cages. Dian clung to a tree as she sat on

the forest floor, still a bit dazed, and Bento climbed

onto the feeding platform, even more dazed than Dian.

Danur took this window of opportunity to make advances

towards the unwilling Dian, who would probably thump

him if she were in a more alert state. The men had to

take Danur away to another area of the island, but he

returned and prodded and poked at the reclining Bento,

until Bento rose, grabbed him and gave him one solid

bite that told Danur who was boss. Dian grew more

active and climbed a tree with Simona, where they got

to know each other through play and a certain amount

of bravado. Simona started the encounter as the

dominant one, but in short time, it was clear than

Dian took the dominant role.

The film crew left whilst the rest of us stayed,

waiting for Bento to become fully awake. He seemed to

have reacted quite strongly to the tranquiliser, as it

is unusual for it to take this long to come round.

Monique the monkey sat on the feeding platform with me

much of the time, allowing me to groom her as she let

out little grunts of contentment. Every time there was

some action with the orangutans, she would scurry

closer to get a good look, hands resting on her knees,

but always amongst the security of a few human legs to

grab onto if things got too much for her, which they

often did.

It was decided that the vet, Karmele, would stay with

Bento that night to be sure that things were okay. We

left her with a few security men on the island and

returned to arrange supplies to be sent over right

away. Karmele returned this morning and reported how

things had progressed since we left the island:

“It was twilight when Bento started reacting after an

extremely long sedative effect of the anesthesia. His

body temperature had dropped to 35.6 degrees and his

heart beat was also quite slow. We were very worried

that he wouldn’t be able to spend the first night

outside, his first night of freedom, but he would not

want to be returned to the clinic, as we thought we

might have to do. The last warm sunlight rays were

warming him up gently. I was sitting down next to him

onto the feeding platform when he finally managed to

raise himself and sit down next to me. Suddenly I

noticed that his eyes expressed these desires that

often male orangutans would show towards female

humans. Apparently, he is very famous for such a

passion for belly buttons and all of a sudden, feeling

a lot better, he stood in front of me holding onto a

branch and started to let his hands wander inside my

clothing. He several times tried to suck my belly

button and so, I commenced to feel a bit disgraced.

One of the technicians, noting my discomfort, tried to

pull him off me, but Bento was too intent and did not

hesitate to roughly smack the face of the technicians,

who was subsequently was thrown off the stairs of the

platform. Bento was hugging me strongly, very excited,

and his whole 43kilos body was all over me while he

was trying to take my shirt off. Three more

technicians that came to try to stop Bento, but they

were not strong enough to stop his fervent passion.

Fearing that Bento could eventually harm me or one of

the technicians, I tried to get rid of him by throwing

myself down from the top of the 3 meters high

platform. I hit the ground but Bento came with me and

landed with half of his body over me. Then I asked the

technicians to step back because Bento was getting

more furious. I moved then towards the river, dragging

Bento who was strongly holding my leg. Next to the

edge of the river, though, Bento decided he was not

going any farther. I tried again to get rid of him and

someone pulled my arms while Bento pulled my foot. He

got off my boot but Bento still managed to hold my

foot. He then bit my foot, but very gently, not

causing me any harm. Finally, Bento, exhausted, gave

up my foot and I fell free. Four people held him from

behind but he did not dare to make any more movements.

Hopefully, I thought, this had helped him to reach up

a higher temperature…

From that point, Bento, who was feeling much better,

was wandering from one of the platforms to the other

while I waited and observed him from the small boat on

the river. Only when he dared to go farther, I stepped

inland and went chasing him. Just calling, “Yoo hoo!

Bento! I am over here!” from a distance was enough

for him to turn back and head towards me. That is how

we kept him around the place. We stayed a couple of

more hours until we made sure that the tree above our

heads was the one he chose to stay overnight.

At 3:30 in the morning, we came back to the place and

Bento was still there. He noticed our presence but he

did not dare to move yet. Only at 5 am, when it was

already complete daylight, he moved to the other tree.

He refused the mango I offered to him. Promptly he

started to climb up as well as any wild orangutan

would do. He went a bit further and we left him alone

when we were quite sure that he would do perfectly ok.

He is now free to climb up and down for the first time

in life. We desire the best for you, “lovely” Bento!”

 

Until next time….

Michelle

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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