Nielsen, 'mother' of orangutans
Nielsen, 'mother' of orangutans
Tarko Sudiarno, Palangkaraya
A hairy hand gripped the shoulder of a pretty woman, in a stark
contrast. It belonged to Jack, an orangutan, who gazed at the
woman while making a sound that only she could understand.
"Oh, you don't want to be left here, then. You're still
afraid. OK dear, come home with me then," the woman, Lone
Droscher-Nielsen, gently told Jack. In fact, he was scheduled to
be reintroduced to the thick forest on Kaja island, Central
Kalimantan.
Six-year-old Jack would not let go of the 42-year-old woman's
shoulder as he was simply not ready to be left alone.
"He communicated that he was afraid to live in the forest,"
said Lone, interpreting the orangutan's hard gaze and seemingly
spoilt behavior.
Finally, with great patience, Lone took Jack back to the
Orangutan Reintroduction Center in Nyaru Menteng, Central
Kalimantan. Aboard a speedboat, they traveled along the river
that bordered the forest. All the while, Jack held tightly to
Lone, suggesting that he did not want his "mother" to abandon
him.
Lone Droscher-Nielsen, who comes from Denmark, is now a mother
of sorts to hundreds of orangutans at the reintroduction center,
which she has been in charge of since 1999.
Today, the center is home to about 240 orangutans that will
later be reintroduced to the forest. They are among those rescued
by the relevant authorities, or saved from forest fires in
Kalimantan.
"I have fallen in love with orangutans. I love them so much
that I have abandoned any wish to have my own children. How could
I help the orangutans if I had to take care of my own children? I
take great pity on them," said Lone.
She is married to a man from Kalimantan, whom she is in the
process of divorcing. Her husband wanted to have children, but
Lone was adamant that she did not want her own children as she
was devoted to the orangutans.
Orangutans are the "be-all and end-all" for Lone. She is happy
living in the thick of the jungle for their sake, but is greatly
concerned over the decreasing population of the orangutans.
She said there were about 15,000 to 20,000 orangutans left on
Kaja island. Unless the government takes quick action to overcome
problems caused by the destruction of their habitat, there will
be no more orangutans here by 2020.
"That's why I will do my best to ensure their survival," she
said.
Lone lives among orangutans at the center and knows, not only
their names, but the character of each orangutan there.
For example, when she approached a young orangutan, Bimbin,
who was rolling on the ground in a tantrum, Lone immediately knew
what had caused his behavior. He was jealous because she was
playing with the other orangutans. So, she greeted Bimbin and
picked him up.
Afterward, she let Bimbin take a candy that she had been
chewing from her mouth. Bimbin put his lips close to Lone's and
took the candy.
Lone fell in love with orangutans as a teenager at secondary
school in Denmark. Her teacher asked her to write something about
the local zoo. At the zoo, she met an orangutan from Kalimantan
for the first time. The experience stayed with her until
adulthood.
Later, when she worked as a stewardess with the Scandinavian
Air System (SAS), she heard that orangutans in Kalimantan were
facing a grave threat. She decided to serve as a volunteer to
save them, abandoned her job, and left for Kalimantan in 1993.
At first, she was involved with the Orangutan Reintroduction
Center in Tanjungputing, South Kalimantan. A short while later,
she moved to a similar center in Bahorok, West Sumatra. Then, in
the same way that orangutans wander through the jungle, she moved
from one reintroduction center to the next, until finally
arriving at Nyaru Menteng, about 30 km to the west of
Palangkaraya.
Lone has left behind her parents, other family members and her
own country, to serve as a mother to the orangutans.
"If I had my own children, I would naturally devote myself to
them. But I could never do that, I would not have enough time for
the orangutans," she said, again and again.