Over the past 40 years, orang-utans rescued in Sabah were rehabilitated at Sepilok before being released into the nearby jungle. Now the Sabah Wildlife Department tells JASWINDER KAUR about plans to translocate some of them to an alternative site in Lahad Datu
It only seemed like 5 minutes since I waved goodbye to the 2005 Adventure group and here I was back at the wonderful Rasa Ria waiting for the 2006 group to arrive.
Wonderful news. Our campaign in Thailand has been successful.
It was reported in the Jakarta Post newspaper that the King of Thailand and the top Government Officials had been bombarded with emails and postcards regarding the illegally held orangutans which made to perform in the boxing ring for tourists at Safari World.
53 orangutans will be returned to Indonesia within the next 4-8 weeks. First, they must all be health screened, DNA tested, etc, and whilst this is being done jointly with Indonesian officials, the logistics of moving this many orangutans is being organised. If you sent those emails and postcards YOU have played a VERY important part in giving these orangutans their eventual freedom again, something I hope you will feel proud of.
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The fate of 54 orangutans illegally smuggled into Thailand nearly two years ago will be decided at a meeting of Malaysian, Thai and Indonesian wildlife officials later this month in Bangkok, officials say.
In October 2004 Dr Sen Nathan and Mr Laurentius Ambu from Sabah Wildlife Department were in the UK delivering their lecture tour on Orangutan Rehabilitation. At the Twycross Zoo event, James Reay a teacher from Fleckney Church of England Primary School (just outside of Leicester) introduced himself.
Orangutan Appeal UK do not support Meteor’s use of orangutans in their advertising campaign - and in fact strongly disagree with such tactics.
Meteor have recently (October 05) adopted one of our orphan orangutans and made a small donation to our Appeal, but without disclosing who they were or what they were involved in - this in our view is a DEPLORABLE TACTIC. We have since refunded their donation.
We wish to make it known that we fully support the action being taken by the Captive Animals Protection Society to discourage such activities and sincerely hope they are successful in having Meteors advert withdrawn.
The world’s first magazine of its kind, devoted to rainforests throughout the world.
Our objective is simply to help other organisations and individuals raise awareness of rainforests. We will publicise the wonderful work done by the many conservation groups and individuals throughout the world.
When Sue Sheward, our Chairperson, told me that I had been chosen to be the Appeal’s rep on the 2005 Borneo Orangutan Adventure I was over the moon. I love my job of Liaison Officer at the Centre but this would give me a chance to visit some of the amazing places I had heard of but just hadn’t had the time to visit. However, I was not so sure it was a good thing when I was called to a briefing weekend at HQ and discovered my Adventurers ranged in age from 24 to 68! How would I keep them all happy? Would I be up to the task? Sue assured me I would be and after having spoken to everyone on the phone I began to feel more confident.
Could we do better?
This is the question we have been asking ourselves for quite some time!
For 40 years Sepilok Rehab Centre has been releasing rehabilitated individuals into the Kabilli Reserve, which surrounds the Centre. In more recent years the more advanced orangutans have been relocated to Tabin and other reserves where they can be truly wild. BUT WE DON’T KNOW HOW WELL THEY COPE and Sepilok do not have the funds to find out!
Bangkok police are investigating the apparent deaths of 41 orangutans at the city’s Safari World wildlife park.
