Eight orangutans to get taste of freedom

Eight orangutans to get taste of freedom

SAMARINDA , East Kalimantan: The Wanariset Semboja Orangutan
Rehabilitation Center is scheduled to send eight orangutans on
Saturday back to their natural habitat around Mount Meratus,
located on the border of East and South Kalimantan.

Jean Mandala, spokesperson of the rehabilitation center, said
on Thursday that the orangutans have been trained on how to adapt
to life in their natural habitat for the past three years at the
center.

The eight orangutans to be released have an average age of six
and are expected to be capable of returning to their natural
lives in the forests without dependence on human beings, Jean
told Antara.

The Semboja rehabilitation center, billed to be the most
successful for orangutan rehabilitation, has released at least
700 orangutans to the forests since 1987.

Most of the orangutans trained at the center have been
confiscated from people keeping them in captivity illegally and
those fleeing their destroyed habitat due to forest fires.