Update 20th May from Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Project

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends of the Orangutan,

The journal continues....

 

20th May

 

It’s been a busy three weeks at Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Reintroduction Project

since I last wrote. The BBC crews have now gone home for a 3 week break before

the next shoot for Orangutan Diaries, giving us a little time to complete

preparations for the arrival of the 53 smuggled orangutans coming in from

Thailand next month. The new quarantine cages for them are almost finished, and

the medical team goes next week to Bangkok to check on the orangutans. We will

keep you informed about their arrival in the weeks to come.

 

 

In the past several weeks, our rescue teams have been in the palm oil estates,

and have rescued a large number of orangutans. As the rainy season has now come

to an end, the plantations are beginning to clear the forest rapidly, now that

the bulldozers can get through. Several orangutans have arrived just in the last

3 days and this morning the rescue team left again for Sembulu where seven

orangutans have been trapped in a tiny

 

fragment of forest.

 

 

Whilst the release of the 42 wild orangutans last month meant that we had more

space to take in new rescues, we are once again almost out of cages. BOS UK and

BOS Germany have promised to pay for the rapid construction of more quarantine

cages until we can hopefully secure the release site in the Baktitop valley.

But we have a long dry season ahead of us, and in the immediate region,

hundreds, if not thousands of orangutans will need rescuing. While our people

try to lobby for an end to forest conversion to oil palm, so many orangutans

continue to perish. With no other orangutan conservation group actively rescuing

orangutans from palm oil plantations, we have an insurmountable task ahead of

us, with less than half of the budget for Nyaru Menteng presently covered. To

this end, Lone and I have been writing proposals for funding of different

aspects of the project until late into the nights. We were pleased to receive

some very much needed support from the Australian

Orangutan Project last week, but still much more is needed. Please contact me

directly if you or an organization in which you are involved would like to see

any of the proposals. (info)

 

On one of the rescues last week, the team came back with a tiny infant, only a

couple of months old. We named her Amber, after a little girl I know who has

been tirelessly campaigning and raising funds for the project. I babysat Amber

(the orangutan) while Lone was ill, and unlike the Amber I know (and have often

babysat as well), this Amber goes to sleep when it is bedtime. Like any baby,

she wakes during the night for feedings, but unlike others, she does not cry, or

indeed make a sound. Lying across my chest and clutching my hair, she would

simply start mouthing at my neck or face to wake me and let me know she needed

feeding. Easily the least stressful babysitting job I have had to date.

 

Sadly, we have had some losses amongst the tiniest (and most fragile)

orangutans. Robin, who arrived with Aming some weeks ago, had come to us in less

than perfect condition. Both he and Aming caught flu, and both struggled to

breathe and were put on oxygen. Our medical team did all they could, and both

had 24 hour one-on-one care. One night, as Lone held Robin in her arms, the tiny

baby drew his last laboured breath. The autopsy revealed that he had died of

acute pneumonia. Aming is still on oxygen and being treated, but he has improved

in the last week. Nonetheless, the 24 hour vigil continues for little Aming.

Another orangutan which I described in my first journal of this trip, also was

unable to overcome the poor condition in which she came to us. Putu (previously

written as Putut) has not been well since her arrival, and despite treatment,

continued to have fever and lethargy on an almost daily basis. She died

suddenly just a couple of days ago. Again, I must

point out that these tragic losses occurred through no fault of our dedicated

and professional medical team, who did all they could. These were small infants

who came to us in such a poor state, that recovery was unlikely. We cry for

their deaths, but more than that we cry for the short and traumatic lives they

led which made them need our help in the first place. It is unlikely that these

orangutan infants would have died if they had been living freely in the forest

with their mothers, and not exposed to human diseases and malnutrition from the

first weeks of their lives after being torn from their dead mothers’ bodies. The

sadness is coupled with anger- anger that a person could put these infants in

this situation, anger that a government continues to allow the clearing of

orangutan habitat for financial gain, anger that officials do not prosecute

those that own or trade orangutan infants, anger that in the west, consumer

demand for palm oil and timber is driving this

situation. These were, ultimately, unnecessary deaths.

 

Let us move onto some happier news. Rimba and Afri have had no further signs

of throat sac infection in the past week, and look set to be returned to their

prospective groups soon. (Thank you to the many experts who helped advice for

the possibility for the need for surgical intervention, which luckily was not

required). Labin also is on the mend, and after he builds up his weight a

little more, will be re-released onto the island. Don King, Funky and Rebecca

have recently graduated from Nursery and have now entered Forest School One, and

Tip has graduated from Forest School One to Forest School Two. Jordan has fully

recovered from his snakebite and subsequent surgery and will return to his

friends at Midway House. And none too soon! Jordan had always been a bit of a

wallflower, the one you hardly noticed. Babysitters found it hard to write

amusing or interesting stories for updates on him as he grew, because he simply

didn’t seem to have much of a personality. But

things have changed since those early days, and Jordan is a real tear-away, and

with a wicked sense of humour. He likes to perform as well. If he doesn’t see

you watching, he will sit quietly and pass the time working on his nest making

skills or tearing open a coconut, but the moment he notices you, he starts doing

all sorts of gymnastic routines on the apparatus in his cage, and makes noises

and pulls faces. I cringe when people treat orangutans (and other animals) as if

they are meant to amuse us, but Jordan seems to delight in such antics. Having

been so quiet all along, we are not sure where he picked up his sense of humour.

 

Lomon is the most amazing tale of change, however. Remember the wide-eyed,

terrified little orangutan that winced every time someone drew near? I described

him as 3 years old, but his dental development actually reveals that he is more

likely 6-7 years old. He is no bigger than a 3 year old, probably due to

malnutrition for many years. A couple of weeks ago, Lomon was at his lowest—not

eating or drinking, completely listless, and hiding all day under a towel. As he

has hypoproteinemia (as well as anemia), we were not able to put him on IV, and

it seemed he had completely given up. That afternoon, I sent the driver into

town and asked him to get very sweet fruits and some other special treats, in a

desperate bid to motivate Lomon to eat. It was pineapple that did the trick. He

tore into the pineapple with a level of energy you could not imagine was within

him. He loved to tear the leaves off the top and chew on the white ends of them,

and he scraped the fruit clean off

its skin, leaving very little behind. This was the start of the new Lomon.

 

Lomon eventually discovered that he enjoyed a number of foods. He loves

anything with egg (which is good for his low protein condition) and he loves

starches as well. A pineapple or a cucumber always gets him very perked up. He

spends his entire day in the forest now, and enjoys exploring the undergrowth,

where he uproots grasses and palms and eats the white shoots, and he searches

out young leaves of other edible plants. He knows precisely which logs to turn

over or break open to find termites, which he sucks up with expertise. Although

he does not yet climb, he shows a knowledge for the forest that I have never

seen in an young captive orangutan before. On his first day in the forest, he

set out on a very long walk, not following any kind of path, and found his way

straight back to the babysitters. He makes nests (albeit on the ground)

expertly. He is no longer afraid to be touched or picked up, and with me and

Lone and a few of the babysitters, he actually seeks out

cuddles or at least wants to hold your hand. With a full belly, his eyes are

brighter and his colour is improved. He still needs to get some meat on his

bones, but he is well on the way to good health. At night, when I put him to bed

in his laundry basket, he works on his nest for a good 5 minutes, before

covering himself up completely under a towel. Then his hand shoots out and

reaches for a hold of my hair. I stroke his back until he falls asleep, and only

then can I leave, as I gently release his grip on my hair and place his hand

back in the basket.

 

(Lomon’s story is being documented in the Orangutan Diary programme.)

 

Michelle

 

P.S. Pictures soon on the website (www.savetheorangutan.org.uk)

 

 

Michelle Desilets

BOS UK

www.savetheorangutan.org.uk

www.savetheorangutan.info

" Primates Helping Primates "

 

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