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