50 orangutans rehabilitated

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.