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.