BKSDA Aceh: 12 orangutans born at Jantho Reintroduction Centre

Banda Aceh (ANTARA) – Aceh’s Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) has recorded the births of 12 Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) at the Jantho Reintroduction Centre in the Jantho Nature Reserve, Aceh Besar Regency.

“To date, 12 orangutan births have been recorded at the Jantho Reintroduction Centre in Aceh Besar Regency,” BKSDA Aceh chief Ujang Wisnu Barata said in Banda Aceh on Monday.

The Jantho Reintroduction Centre is a site where orangutans are released back into the wild, located within the Jantho Nature Reserve. The reintroduction programme in the protected area has been running since 2011.

The Jantho Nature Reserve originally covered 16,640 hectares. Its area was reduced to 15,356.49 hectares in 2015 under a decree issued by the Minister of Environment and Forestry.

“To date, 182 orangutans have been recorded in the Jantho Nature Reserve,” Ujang Wisnu Barata said.

Marconi was released into the Jantho Nature Reserve in 2011. In 2017, Marconi was spotted with its first offspring, named Masen.

The Sumatran orangutan is a protected species. According to the global conservation organisation’s threatened-species list, the species, which is found only on Sumatra, is critically endangered and at high risk of extinction in the wild.

The public is therefore urged to help protect Sumatran orangutans by refraining from damaging forests, which provide habitat for many protected species.

People are also urged not to capture, injure, kill, keep, possess, raise, transport or trade protected animals, whether alive or dead.