REHABILITATING ORANG UTANS IN MALAYSIA

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http://www.smh.com.au/news/asia/where-orangutans-go-for-rehab/2006/08/17/1155407\

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Where orang-utans go for rehab

 

Diana Plater

August 15, 2006

 

The ranger, wearing gum boots, is standing on a timber platform in the

middle of the jungle holding out some bananas.

 

" Geooooooorge, Geooooorrrge, " he yells.

 

There's a rustle in the leaves high up in the canopy and then the branches

begin to sway; the vines droop and there's more movement up above.

 

Next thing George is swinging down to the platform, grabbing the fruit, then

leaping away.

 

It's not some Tarzan movie. We're in the Semmenggoh Orang-Utan

Rehabilitation Centre in the Malaysian state of Sarawak in Borneo, where

confiscated and surrendered orang-utans are cared for and rehabilitated.

 

At the 9am feed, we've been waiting to see Ritchie, the dominant male, who

is leader of the group. The rangers know he's coming when he lefts off a

loud roar, similar to that of a lion, announcing his presence to any females

within range.

 

The other males mate also, but they are said to " do it secretly " so Ritchie

doesn't find out.

 

At 1.37m tall and weighing 90k, Ritchie was named after the local journalist

James Ritchie who " rescued " the six-month-old from an illegal wildlife

trader in Batang Ai in 1989.

 

In a recent article Ritchie says that Ritchie (45.72cm tall at that time)

had been squeezed into a small square cage and hardly had room to move.

Apparently, he was on its way to the home of an animal enthusiast.

 

Today we're disappointed: George, but no Ritchie.

 

Tourists are able to take their chances to see the males at the 9am and 3pm

feeds.

 

Closer to the centre's buildings, mothers and babies come down to grab food

and are not as shy as the males. But we are still told to keep quiet and not

use our cameras' flashbulbs,

 

The name orang-utan is Malay for " man of the forest. " In the local Sarawak

language the name is Maias.

 

Colour of orang-utans in Borneo vary from orange in young animals to dark

reddish brown in their elders. In Indonesian Sumatra, they tend to be

lighter in colour and have thicker longer hair.

 

Ritchie says Sarawak's orang-utans used to roam the forests and foraged in

the lowlands. But when man intruded into their territory, the conflict

started.

 

Over the past 100 years, maybe a quarter of the 12 million hectares of

forests in Sarawak had gone under the axe and " slash and burn " farming

leaving very little tracts of virgin jungle.

 

So the orang-utan left for other regions where there were other sources of

food. Then with illegal wildlife trade reaping millions of dollars, the

population of the primates began to shrink.

 

Over the last 50 years, logging, agricultural activities and other forms of

development have taken their toll.

 

But in 1998 Sarawak established a legal framework for wildlife protection

with the introduction of the Wildlife and Protection Ordinance; now, highly

viable areas of orang-utan are totally protected.

 

There's a centre of excellence for orang-utan research at Nanga Delok

(Batang Ai) where local and foreign scientists and experts are working

closely and exchanging notes to protect the primate.

 

Ritchie says that in the early 1900s, there were an estimated 200,000

orang-utans in Borneo and Sumatra. Now, there's an estimated 27,000 in

Borneo (5,000 of the Pongo Abelii species in Sumatra) with about 2,000 in

Sarawak.

 

The animals are shy, elusive and arboreal and spend most of the time in

trees, navigating like master climbers. They build four to five nests a day

where they rest and their home range is sometimes 1,000 hectares for the

male or from 50 to 300 hectares for the female.

 

They mainly eat fruit, insects and occasionally eggs and small vertebrate.

An adult male is estimated to have the strength of six men.

 

Orang-utans have the slowest rate of reproduction among mammals - the

gestation period is 8-1/2 months.

 

A baby stays with its mother until it's about five or six years old, when

she's ready to give birth again. This enables mohers to teach them survival

skills.

 

A female will give birth only two or, at most, three times.

 

The Semenggoh Nature Reserve was formerly the Semenggoh Forest Reserve,

established in 1920 and opened to the public in 1975.

 

Chong Jiew Han, the Customer Service Supervisor at the Sarawak Forestry

Corporation, says there are presently 22 orang-utans roaming around the 653

hectares of the nature reserve, and 10 new-born babies.

 

Because some of them had been kept as pets, they were incapacitated by

captivity by humans and lacked survival skills. So they needed to be taught

about their environment, just like humans.

 

Chong says the centre is trying to provide the animals with the most

conducive environment, similar to their natural habitats in the wild.

 

The aim is to eventually release them all back to the wild in order to

breed.

 

Some of the rescued orang-utans are " too old and too fat " to be trained, and

some have to be quarantined, depending on how long they were kept in

captivity.

 

The rangers train them by bringing them up to the forest and then bringing

them back to the centre to sleep.

 

 

 

Some have difficulty climbing the trees, so the rangers have to actually

teach them how to. They also have to watch out for snakes such as pythons

which can swallow the babies.

 

" We have to be very patient, " Chong says. " Slowly, slowly. We prefer them to

go on their own. When the babies are born we don't want to interfere.

 

As this particular forest is not their natural habitat, the rangers are

" afraid if there's not enough food to eat they'll kill each other. The 9am

feed is supplementary. "

 

Chong goes on: " Our objective is for people to understand the importance of

wildlife. We have to work with committees formed by the local communities.

 

" We're still looking at the number of males coming out, and bringing them to

another area means a lot of stress. We're still doing a lot of research. "

 

The reserve is 20km south of Kuching, Sarawak's capital, and has its own

rare flora and fauna including the giant squirrel, pigmy squirrel and a huge

variety of birds.

 

Trips can also be combined with the yearly Rainforest World Music festival

at the Sarawak Cultural Village at Santubong. The tenth one will be held

from July 13 to 15 next year, coinciding with Visit Malaysia Year 2007.

 

*IF YOU GO:*

 

Malaysia Airlines flies to Kuching via Kuala Lumpur. Call 132--627 or visit

http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/au/main.html

 

Semenggoh Nature Reserve: call (from Australia 0011-60) 82-618-423 or

618-324; website is http://www.sarawakforestry.com

 

For general information on Sarawak: visit http://www.sarawaktourism.com

 

** The writer visited Sarawak as a guest of Malaysia Tourism, flying

Malaysia Airlines.*