(MY) Bukit Merah orangutans

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Orangutan hospital sparks controversy-Malaysiakini.com May 31, 09 10:04am

 

An orangutan sanctuary where baby apes wear nappies, sleep in cots and are

cared for by nurses dressed in masks and starched uniforms has drawn the

wrath of environmentalists.

 

At Orangutan Island in Malaysia's north, tourists snap photos as they file

past large windows looking onto a facility billed as the world's only

rehabilitation and preservation facility for the endangered primates.

 

Behind the glass, adorable baby orangutans like two-month-old Tuah lie

swaddled in nursery sheets and cling to baby rattles.

 

" He is separated from the mother because his hands got entangled in the

mother's hair and was unable to breastfeed, " says the facility's chief

veterinarian D Sabapathy.

 

Tuah lies calmly in his cot with his eyes wide open and hands across his

chest, hooked up to cables monitoring his heart beat and oxygen levels,

ignoring the passing parade.

 

But the care lavished on the animals, which are fed every two hours by a

staff of seven nurses on duty round the clock, is lost on environmentalists

who say this is no way to treat wild animals facing the threat of

extinction.

 

[image: boxing orangutan 240406 caged]Managers of the 35-acre island, which

is part of a resort hotel development, say they aim to return the animals to

their natural jungle habitat, but so far none have been released.

 

" It is ridiculous to have orangutans in nappies and hand-raised in a

nursery. How are they going to reintroduce the primates back in the wild, "

said senior wildlife veterinarian Roy Sirimanne.

 

Sirimanne, who has worked in zoos in Southeast Asia and the Middle East over

the past four decades, said baby orangutans need to be with their mothers to

learn survival skills.

 

" First, we need to save their habitat which is quickly disappearing. And it

is the mother that will teach its young for the first four years or more on

what to eat and how to look for food, " he told *AFP*.

 

" Keeping the orangutans in captivity on an island is not a conservation

programme. It amounts to desecration (of the species) as it is nearly

impossible to reintroduce them back to the forest. "

 

*Death is inevitable*

 

Experts say there are about 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans left in the wild, 80

percent of them in Indonesia and the rest in Sabah and Sarawak.

 

But Orangutan Island is situated in the north of peninsular Malaysia, far

from the jungles of Borneo where the orangutan's natural habitat is being

lost to logging and palm oil plantations.

 

A 2007 assessment by the United Nations Environment Programme warned that

orangutans will be virtually eliminated in the wild within two decades if

current deforestation trends continue.

 

The Malaysian branch of conservation group Friends of the Earth said the

best way to save the orangutan is to address rampant poaching and shrinking

habitats.

 

" We are opposed to the orangutan sanctuary. We are opposed to this theme

park resort having wildlife in captivity, " said its president Mohamad Idris.

 

" Captive-bred orangutans have no natural resistance against diseases, making

them susceptible to diseases. Death is inevitable, " he said.

 

The centre's veterinarian defended the facility, situated in the tourist

town of Bukit Merah, which opened in 2000 and now houses 25 orangutans.

 

He admitted the centre had suffered a high mortality rate in its early days,

with seven deaths of infant orangutans between 2000 and 2003, but said it

had learned a lot since then.

 

" It is the pride of Malaysians and it is aimed at helping ensure our

orangutans do not become extinct, " said Sabapathy.

 

He said the facility was originally stocked with orangutans obtained from

the forestry department in Sarawak state on Borneo, who had been confiscated

from individuals there.

 

" Now we can study the primate and collect data. The orangutans will

eventually be returned to Sarawak. That is our objective, " he said.

 

*Not disheartened by criticism*

 

Sabapathy said infants were only removed from their mothers if they were

underweight, neglected and at risk of dying, and that some mothers raised

their own babies, including one born in May.

 

" I will not be disheartened by the criticism, " he said. " We are not

ill-treating them. People say the species is getting endangered but what are

they doing? We are trying to increase the numbers in the wild. "

 

Nearby, 21-year-old nurse Nadiah Mohamad smiled fondly at one-year-old April

who was rejected by his mother, and fed him with formula while

four-month-old June showed off by jumping around her cot and pulling the

bedsheets.

 

" I love them. It is like taking care of a small child, " she said.

 

When the baby apes are a year old, they are transferred to an " infant

development unit " designed to teach them to live in the wild.

 

In another zone, enclosed with electrified barbed wire, adult orangutans are

free to roam and build their nests in the treetops.

 

Most of the visitors, from Malaysia and abroad, are delighted to interact

with the animals and are unaware of the criticism.

 

" I don't think it is wrong keeping them here. It is a practical solution to

save the orangutans and educate our children, " said 26-year-old Vikki

Kendrick from Britain.

 

*- AFP*