Students help improve orangutans' cage

Text and photo by Kafil Yamin

BANDUNG (JP): Akriti and her classmates, who are students at Bandung International School (BIS), visited the zoo at the weekend. They were excited at seeing various species of animals but were stunned when they saw two orangutans sitting somberly inside their small cage.

The orangutans moved, but they didn't behave the way they normally did: jumping, hopping, sliding, swaying...

"They looked lackluster. There must be something wrong," recalled Haifaa, one of the students.

The children were soon engaged in a small discussion about what was happening to the orangutans. In minutes, they came up with the conclusion that the cage was the reason.

"The cage is too small and the orangutans lack the space to hang, jump and do other exciting things. We think they are not happy," said Eun, an eighth grade South Korean student.

Akriti and her friends shared the orangutans' feeling and again discussed how to help them. They knew the cage conditions had to be improved.

They expressed concern at the zoo visitors' habit of feeding the animals with everything they had on them that was edible such as leaves, peanuts and snacks, without realizing that they could be making the animals sick.

The teens decided to meet the zoo manager to ask why the cage was not in good condition. The manager told them that he was aware of the condition, but the zoo lacked the funds to renovate it.

This situation motivated the students, who were also members of the BIS environmental club, to raise money for the orangutans. They told their teachers about the zoo and their desire to be able to change it.

With the guidance of their class teacher, the club pursued some initiatives to raise funds. It produced and sold stickers, T-shirts and leaflets carrying the message "Save the Orangutans".

The students asked their parents to spread the news of their campaign to colleagues, friends and relatives. They would have to deal with obstacles during their campaign for the protection of endangered species in a community that sees rare species merely as pets.

As one BIS teacher put it, "Not only in Indonesia, but even in some developed countries, owning rare species of animals like orangutans is considered prestigious".

"It's a sign of being wealthy," she added.

The club invited orangutan experts to their school to gain more information on the animal and the best way to save them. They soon learned that the orangutan had been facing the threat of extinction due to their illegal trade, deforestation and the lack of public awareness of the issue.

However, the students still managed to collect about Rp 25 million (US$2,650) in a few months to support their campaign.

Illegal logging

The threat of animal extinction is mainly due to illegal logging. Indonesia is home to around 80 percent of the world's orangutans and rampant logging in Kalimantan and Sumatra has seen their habitats shrink and their population plunge by half in the past decade to between 15,000 and 25,000.

Illegal logging is threatening the survival of not only orangutans but also Sumatran tigers and other animals. It is also a threat to nearly 60 million Indonesians who depend on the forest for their livelihood.

Environmentalists have been urging the government to take action instead of promises to show its seriousness in stopping illegal logging.

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an international non-profit group with offices in London and Washington, said in its reports that Indonesia had failed to halt even the most blatant illegal logging operations.

The group released footage showing unlicensed sawmills and illegally felled timber floating down rivers in the Tanjung Puting National Park in Kalimantan. The loggers go after Ramin wood, which is used to make furniture.

World Bank figures estimate that Indonesia loses 1.5 million hectares of forest a year, mostly through illegal logging.

The vast Indonesian archipelago contains 10 percent of the world's remaining tropical forests and at the current rate of logging, production forests will disappear within two decades, claim EIA reports.

After obtaining information from an expert, Akitri and other members of the club worked together to design a better cage for the orangutans, which was then proposed to the zoo's manager.

"A spacious cage with good space and facilities for orangutans to play and rest. You see? We made a fancy cave for them inside," Eun screamed in joy.

The club was also informed that five orangutans had arrived at the zoo from Kalimantan to join the present population of three. The five are now still in the zoo's quarantine, so that they can adjust to the local environment.

"So the new cage is like a welcome for the new inhabitants," said Takako, a Japanese student.

The zoo's manager promised to get an engineer to renovate the cage. When club members visited the zoo recently, they were very excited seeing that the renovation was already underway.

"Look! They are doing it!" shouted Takako, as they all rushed to the cage. "Soon there will be a better home for the orangutans."