Borneo Orangutan Survival International

Nyaru Menteng - Borneo Orangutan Survival’s rescue and rehabilitation centre in Indonesian Borneo - has recently welcomed the arrival of three young orangutans from West Kalimantan. All three (aged between 2 - 3 years) were confiscated from private households - victims of palm oil development and logging.

Founded by Lone Droscher-Nielsen, Nyaru Menteng is home to 670 orangutans, ranging in age from a few months to about 8 years, where they are cared for and rehabilitated to prepare them for their ultimate release into the wild.

In February this year, the Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA) of the Forestry Department in Indonesia, confiscated Frengky (pictured below) from the area of Singkawang, on the north coast of West Kalimantan.

Within two months, another young orangutan, Thomas, was rescued from Sintang, also in the northern part of West Kalimantan province. They were temporarily homed in transit cages in Pontianak, waiting for an opportunity to be transferred to a rehabilitation centre.

It wasn’t long before a third orangutan, Caleb, was confiscated - this time in Ketapang, a small town in the southern part of the province, about seven hours’ journey, by boat, from Pontianak city. He was placed in the Yayasan Palung’s transit centre in Ketapang, until he too could be rehomed.

No such facilities exist in West Kalimantan, and all the other orangutan rehabilitation centres in Central and East Kalimantan were all full at the time. In May, however, the Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP), which assists the BKSDA in caring for captive orangutans in West Kalimantan, heard that Nyaru Menteng would be able to accommodate these youngsters at the end of that month.

Nyaru Menteng is located in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan province. There is no road link between this area and West Kalimantan - nor is there a direct air link - so the orangutans would have to be flown via Jakarta. In the space of a day, COP had made arrangements with Sriwijaya Air and cargo to transport the orangutans to Palangka Raya, and also to transfer Caleb by boat from Ketapang. He joined Frengky and Thomas in BKSDA’s transit cages in Pontianak that night, to await the journey to Palangka Raya the following morning. At 7.00 am the three orangutans were at the airport, ready for loading. The plane left at 8.15 am and arrived in Jakarta at about 10.00 am. After a 30-minute wait for the next plane, the orangutans flew from Jakarta to Palangka Raya, arriving at about 12 noon.

All three orangutans had travelled well and were fine. Thomas looked a little nervous, but when they were finally put together in their big quarantine cage, they were obviously delighted to be together. Within minutes they were back to being normal little orangutans - playing, hanging, biting each other - and eating!