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Paul O'Grady - Love at First Sight

Our Patron Paul O'Grady's new series of Animal Orphans filmed at Sepilok.

05/04/2016

Our patron

Landing in tropical Borneo, Paul joins charity founder Susan Sheward MBE at the famous Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre. Patron of Orangutan Appeal UK, Paul O’Grady is back. But this time he isn’t headed for Africa. He’s here to film a new series of Animal Orphans for ITV, which airs for the first time on the 14th April at 9pm. It doesn’t take long for Paul to get stuck in as Sepilok’s newest orangutan babysitter. Catching Paul’s attention is one of Sepilok’s youngest residents, one-year old Archie. As Paul and Archie embark on a climbing lesson together, it is clear that the animal-lover is smitten.

Paul O'Grady holding orphaned infant Archie in his arms.

Orangutan Appeal UK has been supporting Sepilok for 15 years. Rehabilitating orangutans for release back to the wild is the ultimate goal of the partnership. After his experience, Paul was delighted to become a patron for the charity.

Speaking about his time with the orangutans, Paul said: “It’s a real honour to meet these babies but they should be out enjoying acres of rainforest. I am delighted to be a patron of Orangutan Appeal UK to help raise awareness of the plight of this beautiful ape. Seeing the work of the charity first hand and meeting the baby orangutans was heart-wrenching. I immediately fell in love with baby Archie which has inspired me to get involved.”

As their habitat is lost at an alarming rate, orangutans are more in need than ever. After his experience with Archie, this is something now very close to Paul’s heart.

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