BOS lends helping hand to orphaned orangutan

The baby orangutan seemed helpless in a dirty corner of Klandasan Market, Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. As it had been weakened by several days of illness, nobody was interested in taking care of the poor little creature.

While everybody thought the baby orangutan would die any minute on that eventful day in 1992, suddenly someone came to the animal and showed his love for it.

The kind man was Willie Smith, a wet tropical forest expert and a specialist at the Indonesian forestry ministry. He picked up the baby orangutan and took care of it, naming it Uce.

His success in raising Uce led to the establishment of Balikpapan Orangutan Society (BOS), an association of orangutan lovers in Balikpapan in 1991. From its inception to 2002, BOS has successfully reintroduced some 400 orangutans, formerly kept as pets, to the wilderness. They were first trained at the Samboja Orangutan Reintroduction Center in East Kalimantan.

Uce was one of the first batch of Samboja-trained orangutans reintroduced to their original habitat in River Wain forest in 1994. Smith took part in this orangutan reintroduction event.

"To mark this occasion, Smith took a leaf and chewed half of it. Then he gave the other half of the leaf to Uce. Uce understood this token of friendship and chewed the other half of the leaf," said Peter Karsono, executive director of Balikpapan Orangutan Survival Foundation.

After Willie Smith had found Uce in Klandasan Market and took care of the baby orangutan, he kept on receiving orangutans from owners. To cover the cost of taking care of the animals, he asked Pasir Ridge International School Balikpapan to help finance this new project.

"This request got an enthusiastic response. The pupils in this international school organized a fund-raising week to collect money. The event, highlighted by a number of programs, involved the pupils' parents and raised US$5,000. Then we got another donation of US$5,000. So we started managing orangutans," said Karsono, himself a teacher at the international school.

The great enthusiasm for the conservation of orangutans lasted through 1994, when people associated with the school and the international community dwelling in Balikpapan set up Balikpapan Orangutan Society so that the orangutan rehabilitation and reintroduction project at Wanariset Samboja could be managed.

As we needed more money for the project, we asked alumnae of the international school to take part in the undertaking and, in addition, we also began to establish our network with the international community. Suddenly, while we were busy taking care of orangutans in Wanariset Samboja, a great forest fire broke out in 1997/98.

Hundreds of wild orangutans lost their habitat. They became ill and stressed and many were seriously wounded after being beaten up by resettlers who were caught by a great surprise with the appearance of a large number of orangutans at their dwelling places.

"We had quite a lot of panicky orangutans then. There were some 200 of them. We prepared emergency cages in Samboja and the forestry ministry was involved in this. Then, the overwhelmed forestry ministry required forest concessionaires to act as foster parents for these orangutans," Karsono explained.

In 1998 the foundation assigned to take care of orangutans was renamed Balikpapan Orangutan Survival Foundation, or BOS to the locals.

BOS has established ties with relevant institutions and individuals abroad. Now it has sister foundations in 11 countries. It has forged ties with individuals or institutions in the U.S., Australia, Austria, Holland, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Britain, France, Germany and Japan.

Later, the many orangutans that needed a place in Samboja Orangutan Reintroduction Center were either evicted from their former habitat or confiscated from the public. A similar center has been set up in Nyaru Menteng, Central Kalimantan.

Understandably, this undertaking is very costly and to this end the foundation went out of its way to convince parties abroad that it was a nonprofit organization with a professional performance.

"For the 2002 budget, for example, the foundation needed Rp 14 billion to fund its operations. We can account for each cent of the funds we receive as the foundation is audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers," Karsono said.

Certainly, the personnel of BOS will not act as baby-sitters for the baby orangutans forever. Hundred of orangutans now staying at the reintroduction center must, sooner or later, be returned to their original habitat.

Basically, orangutans are an integral part of the wet tropical forest in Kalimantan. To survive, they need fruit, leaves and a virgin forest. If the orangutans in this forest area fare well, this means that the wet tropical forest is also in good condition and that there is equilibrium in the utilization of natural resources by human beings.

"In conservation, orangutans are often referred to as a guiding species. The population of orangutans in a particular place shows that the ecosystem in this area is sound," Karsono said.

Do these animals know that animal lovers pay great attention to them? They may know how to thank people, just as Willie Smith experienced with Uce. In 1997/98, just before the outbreak of the great forest fire in Kalimantan, Smith met Uce again at the base camp at River Wain.

Uce, reintroduced to the original habitat she knew before when still very young, was seen carrying a cute baby orangutan. She had just given birth to her young and wanted to show the baby to the personnel in charge.

Unhesitatingly, Uce approached Smith and took a leaf, chewed half of it and gave the other half to Smith. Then she let Smith carry her baby, showing her gratitude to Willie Smith.

Uce really understood the meaning of friendship!

-- Tarko Sudiarno