Group cares for ill orangutans
Group cares for ill orangutans
Nani Farida, Medan, North Sumatra
A floppy, round-eyed Diana Lusi Febrianti hugs her keeper tightly and timidly faces several journalists taking her picture.
The one-year-old baby Sumatran orangutan is sick with Hepatitis B.
She lives at the Sumatran orangutan (pongo abelii) captive breeding facility in Batu Mbelin village, Sibolangit, about 40 kilometers from the North Sumatran provincial capital of Medan.
Run by a non-governmental agency, the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program (SOCP), this facility is home to 15 other Sumatran orangutans. All are being treated for different illnesses.
The population of the orangutans, now recorded at between 3,500 and 4,000, faces rapid extinction -- it's been placed on the "Critically Endangered" list by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
And every year the population drops further because of illegal trading and habitat loss.
"Sumatran orangutans are smaller in number than Kalimantan orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), whose population is still in the region of 60,000," Ian Singelton, SOCP project director, told The Jakarta Post. Sumatran orangutans were slimmer, better-looking and smarter than the species in Kalimantan. They also had finer hair, he said.
The biggest population of Sumatran orangutans is found in the strife-torn Aceh province. They live in the primary forest in Leuser area, that part of the province that will shortly be opened up for the controversial Ladia Galaska highway project.
"The construction of this highway will spell the extinction of Sumatran orangutans," Singelton said.
At the captive breeding site, the SOCP is doing its best to restore the condition of Sumatran orangutans once kept by humans.
Afterwards they will be reintroduced to the forest.
This captive breeding site is a restricted place as orangutans are highly prone to diseases and can easily communicate them among populations. Visitors can only enter this facility with special permission.
"I wonder why many people love keeping orangutans as pets. In fact, they are carriers of quite a few diseases," Singelton said.
Most of the orangutans treated at this captive breeding facility came from Aceh and had been collected with the cooperation of the local natural resources conservation center (BKSDA), he said.
Previously, the center was located in Bukit Lawang, North Sumatera. After the location was heavily flooded, the SOCP moved it to Mbelin village in Sibolangit.
The Mbelin center measures about 3.9 hectares in area and is located close to a protected forest. There are two types of cages for orangutans. Quarantine cages for their medical treatment and larger ones where they are kept in groups before they are reintroduced into the forest in Jambi.
Most orangutans confined for medical treatment are usually afflicted with strongloides, hepatitis and fungi-related ailments. In this part of the facility they are kept in isolation to prevent contagion.
At the captive breeding facility, several keepers are assigned to take care of the monkeys. They clean the cages and feed the animals every hour with sterilized fresh fruit.
"Thank God, this area is a good fruit producer," Singelton said.
Close to the cages, there is a clinic with surgery equipment and medical supplies. There is always a veterinary surgeon on duty.
When a Sumatran orangutan is declared healthy, it is moved to a larger cage with other orangutans. After some time the monkeys are reintroduced into the forest where there are no wild orangutans.
"Orangutans that have stayed at this captive breeding site cannot live together with wild orangutans," Singelton said.
Back in the forest, they are monitored until they can live independently.
In Diana's case, she will probably spend the rest of her life in the captive breeding site because of her hepatitis. She'll never swing free in the wild. -- Ibox: On the net: Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program (SOCP): www.sumatranorangutan.com