50 orangutans rehabilitated

SAMARINDA, East Kalimantan: The Wana Riset Samboja forestry research center in Kutai is seeking donations for a three-year program to rehabilitate 50 orangutans before sending them back to the wild.

The East Kalimantan natural resource conservation agency's chief, Ade Rachmad, said yesterday that the 50 orangutans had been kept as pets.

He said the center would get 100 more pet orangutans from West Kalimantan and Java in June and July for rehabilitation, Antara reported.

Returning orangutans to the jungle was the best way to save the endangered species which were found only in Kalimantan and Sumatra, he said.

"The new method (of rehabilitation) requires the support of foster parents who have adopted the orangutans, because the reintroduction (to the wild) of each orangutan costs Rp 3 million (US$1,250)," he said.

He said the Ministry of Forestry in cooperation with the International MOF-Tropenbos Kalimantan Project had saved 250 orangutans since 1991.