Fending for themselves

Fending for themselves

After going through many stressful changes in their lives -- kept
as pets, confiscated by the authorities and rehabilitated by
experts -- six orangutans are finally free to roam in the wild
again.

As "graduates" of the Orangutan Reintroduction Center at Nyaru
Menteng in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, the animals were
declared ready to return to their natural habitat.

The animals were taken to their forest habitat at Kaja and
Palas islands, some 28 kilometers west of Palangkaraya.

Six animals may seem an insignificant number, but with such a
critically endangered species every animal counts. With the wild
population estimated at between 40,000 and 50,000 in Kalimantan
but 6,000 lost to habitat encroachment and hunting every year,
the species will be extinct by 2020 unless binding conservation
measures are enforced.

-- Text and photos by Tarko Sudiarno