Orangutan Foundation

The Best Teacher and Best Mother for Orangutan is Orangutan!

Category: Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Lamdandau Vet, Orangutan Foundation Staff, Orangutans
Date: February 1st 2010
By: orangutanfoundation

Adopted baby orangutan Brain with mother Rosa

Brian (adopted infant orangutan) and Rosa (the surrogate orangutan mother) are living in the forest surrounding Camp Gemini, in the Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve. They are still being followed and monitored by two Camp staff (Utang and Winto). We met with them on Sunday not too far from the Camp, Rosa and Brian looked very happy. Brian was moving and swinging very friskily, up and down and he sometimes moved to other trees and then back again to Rosa. The whole time Rosa keeping an eye on everything Brian did, if Brian had a problem Rosa went to help him. All Orangutan Foundation staff are very happy with Brian’s progress, he is very quick to adapt to the forest.

Infant orangutan Brian climbing whilst being closely watched by his "new" mother

Rosa is teaching Brian how to forage, she eats a few types of leaf and Brian is very clever to follow what Rosa does. He tries to reach the leaves by himself and eat them. Meanwhile, Camelia (another young orangutan) watching Rosa and Brian, slowly moves closer to them. Brian gives a good response.

Infant orangutan Brian exploring

They play together and Brian follows Camelia, climbing to the top of the tree. In that moment there was a fantastic phenomenon shown by Camelia. She gave a lead to make a nest, Camelia broke the branch and made a nest for Brian. Rosa helped them to make the nest too. Slowly Brian reached for a small branch and broke it. Brian is very quick to learn and imitate everything he sees!

Brian and Rosa - In the forest playground

Brian and Rosa – making a nest

Brian learning forest skills

Many thanks to:

· BKSDA Kalimantan Tengah (the Natural Resources Conservation Agency of Central Kalimantan)

· Mr. Eko Novi Setiawan the head of section II of the Natural Resources Conservation Agency of Central Kalimantan (Kepala BKSDA SKW II Kalimantan Tengah),

· Ibu Ashley Leiman OBE the Director of Orangutan Foundation UK,

· Brian W. Matthews the Wildlife Photographer

· Tigor Nainggolan the Lamandau orangutan Reintroduction Manager of Orangutan Foundation UK

· Fiqri the Lamandau orangutan reintroduction Vet of Orangutan Foundation-UK

· Uduk the Lamandau orangutan reintroduction Camp Coordinator of Orangutan Foundation-UK

· Yatno for the Kijang pickup

· All of Camp Siswoyo and Gemini Staff for the extraordinary jobs

Thank you to all our supporters who have given so generously to our ‘Protect Me and My Tree Appeal‘ – your support is crucial in helping us to provide a safe and secure habitat for these orangutans.

Regards,

Hudi WD (Orangutan Foundation Programme Coordinator)

Tags: adoption, Borneo, Indonesia, orangutan, Orangutans
Comments (3)

Change a habit – save a habitat!

Category: Orangutans, Uncategorized
Date: January 19th 2010
By: orangutanfoundation

We are asking our supporters to make a positive start to 2010, and make their New Year’s resolutions really count by taking part in ‘Change a habit – save a habitat’. An idea which will benefit both you and us….and in theory it costs you nothing!

Here’s how it works: you choose a habit and change it (reduce it or stop it) and donate the savings made by doing this to the Orangutan Foundation.

Examples:
Cut down on take away coffees – saving £2 per week = £8 a month
Cut out a bottle of wine per week – saving £5 per week = £20 a month
Stop smoking – one packet of cigarettes – saving £6 per week = £24 a month
Reduce sweeties/chocolate – saving £1 per week = £4 a month
Change your transport (walk it, cycle it) – saving £3 per week = £12 a month
Take a packed lunch – saving £10 per week = £40 a month

Select an amount from the examples above or decide on your own monthly target.Contact the Orangutan Foundation to make your donation or donate through this blog and leave a comment telling us what habit you are going to try and change.

Your donation will go towards our vital work protecting critical orangutan habitat.

Good luck and thank you,

Cathy – Orangutan Foundation (UK office)

Tags: Borneo, fundraising, habitat, Indonesia, Orangutans
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Orangutan Rehabilitation and Reintroduction Workshop

Category: Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Lamdandau Vet, Orangutan Care Centre & Quarantine, Orangutan Foundation Staff, Orangutans, Rehabilitation, Uncategorized
Date: January 11th 2010
By: orangutanfoundation

Tomorrow sees the start of a 3 day workshop on orangutan rehabilitation and reintroduction at the Bogor Agricultural University, on the island of Java, Indonesia. The workshop will be attended by all stakeholders related to orangutan conservation issues but with a particular focus on those involved with rehabilitation and reintroduction. This includes, government agencies, private sector, academics, N.G.O.’s and individuals.

Pak Hudi, (our Programme Coordinator), Pak Tigor (Lamandau Orangutan Reintroduction Manager), Dr Fiqri (Lamandau Orangutan Reintroduction Vet) and Pak Uduk (Lamandau Orangutan Reintroduction Camp Coordinator) left Kalimantan today to attend on behalf of the Orangutan Foundation. They will share the Foundation’s experience of successfully reintroducing and translocating orangutans into the Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve. We are also sponsoring the participation of Pak Eko Novi (Head of section II of the Natural Resources Conservation Agency of Central Kalimantan) whom we work closely with in the Lamandau reserve.

Hudi will bring news on how the workshop went. We’d like to thank Lisa B for her donation of $50 and Matthew K for your monthly donation of $35 – thank you for your continued support!

Keep sending us your comments and questions,

Cathy -Orangutan Foundation UK office

Tags: Borneo, Foundation, Indonesia, orangutan, Rehabilitation, reintroduction
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Volunteer with Orangutan Foundation in Borneo!

Category: Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Orangutans, Uncategorized, Volunteer Programme
Date: January 7th 2010
By: orangutanfoundation

I have been running the Orangutan Foundation’s Volunteer Programme for 4 years now, and remain proud to be doing so. I have visited the Programme a couple of times since my first participation in 2001 and I am as blown away by the experience now as I was then!

Originally set up as a method of bolstering our field operations whilst offering individuals the opportunity to actively help and experience a unique lifestyle in Borneo, it continues to be an unbridled success. Its achievements to-date include; a number of guard and patrol posts in Tanjung Puting National Park and the Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve; an orangutan release camp; provision of clean drinking water to villages in the Belantikan Hulu region; and the Pondok Ambung Tropical Forest Research Station , to name but a few!

2009 Volunteer Team with Orangutan Foundation staff

One of the things I love most about the Programme is its transparency – all money paid by volunteers goes into their project that year, paying not only for the volunteer food and accommodation but also for the Indonesian staff, work tools and materials. Oh, and it is brilliant fun for everyone who takes part! The fact that we have had the same staff involved for years and that a significant number of volunteers return to Borneo speaks for itself.

2010 sees the Volunteer Programme enter its 11^th year and we continue with our winning formula – teams of 12 people go out for a 6 week period and live a basic lifestyle, helping with manual labour and construction work to aid our field operations.

Camp Mangkung, built and painted by volunteers in 2008

In 2008, the Volunteer Programme built the Lamandau reserve’s 6th orangutan release camp, called Camp Mangkung. It consists of a kitchen and storeroom, accommodation rooms, office and orangutan holding cage. Mangkung was recently designated as an official site for the release of translocated orangutans – meaning that wild healthy orangutans directly threaten by habitat destruction (eg from a palm oil plantation, like female orangutan Memes), can be moved and will be released at Camp Mangkung.

During the dry season or times of low rain, river access to Camp Mangkung is impossible and so we need to build a boardwalk so that we have reliable access to the site. This will be the focus of the 2010 project – thus there will be high levels of chiselling, sawing and hammering….plus some digging!

John a volunteer from Team 2 in 2009 with a little helping paw!

If you want to spend a unique 6 weeks doing something worthwhile for orangutan conservation, make friends for life and see orangutans in the wild, then why not make this the year to join us?

What all the hard work is for!

Dates for the 2010 Programme are:

Team 1 – 1^st May to 12^th June

Team 2 – 26^th June to 7^th August

Please note that it is extremely likely that we will be running a 3rd team from, 21^st August. This will be confirmed within the next couple of weeks on our website.

Further information may be found in the 2010 Volunteer Programme Brochure on our website.

Elly – Orangutan Foundation Development and Volunteer Co-ordinator

Tags: Borneo, conservation, Indonesia, Orangutans, Volunteer
Comments (1)

Meet Eko, our elephant!

Category: Other wildlife, Uncategorized
Date: December 23rd 2009
By: orangutanfoundation

The Orangutan Foundation is excited to be taking part in Elephant Parade London 2010, in conjunction with the charity, elephant family. The event is billed as London’s largest public art exhibition and aims to raise over £1 million for conservation projects in Asia.

Below are some photos of our adopted elephant, whom we have called Eko. He has been beautifully designed and painted by artist Paul Kidby. Le Pain Quotidien have generously agreed to be our sponsors enabling us to participate.

The photos show you Eko’s transformation over the past months (all photos by Paul Kidby).

Paul takes delivery of Eko (2 Nov 2009) and he takes over their dining room!

Eko turns blue!

Eko makes a new friend!

Intricate detail

Paul applying the undercoat for the gold paint.

Eko has gold paint and it has taken Paul many coats and much time to get the desired effect!

Eko leaving Paul’s house (23 Dec 2009).

Eko being transferred onto a lorry to be taken away.

On the lorry and ready to go – Paul and his family said they’ll really miss Eko!

A huge thank you to Paul and Vanessa Kidby for their time, energy and fantastic work – we are absolutely delighted with Eko!

Tags: Asia, Elephant Parade London 2010, Indonesia, Orangutans, Paul Kidby
Comments (2)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Category: Uncategorized
Date: December 22nd 2009
By: orangutanfoundation

A Christmas message from the Orangutan Foundation office in Central Kalimantan, Borneo.

Thank you all for your support over the past year and very best wishes for 2010!

Comments (0)

Conservation in unprotected areas -reply to comments

Category: Belantikan Conservation Programme, Local Communities, Logging, Oil Palm Plantations
Date: December 17th 2009
By: orangutanfoundation

Thank you to everyone who has recently left comments, especially about Brian and Rosa’s release – they do mean a lot to our staff (Rosa, lovely to hear from you and of course the orangutan Rosa was named after you. Rosa was our vet who previously work at the orangutan care centre).

I’d like to respond to Louis McCarten, who left a comment about Belantikan’s protection - ‘I think it is time to press the Indonesian government to provide actual legal protection to the Belantikan rain forest. And quickly. I do not see a future for the biodiversity here if this is not attempted (and financed). Why not a Belantikan National Park? Better that than a Belantikan alan alang wasteland (or yet another oil palm plantation the world doesn’t need–which of course is what is the world is going to get if we don’t do something to save the Belantikan).’

Your point about Belantikan needing protection is entirely reasonable and this is why we are working in this area. Belantikan has the world’s largest population of orangutans outside of a protected area and it is important for many other ecological reasons. However, the situation in Belantikan it isn’t black and white – there are many factors to consider when deciding how best to protect a high conservation value forest area. Designating the forests as a national park isn’t the answer either. We must deal with the reasons behind deforestation otherwise they will persist despite the change in land status, as we have witnessed in other Indonesian national parks.

A lot of the land is community owned, adat and so rightfully it is the local people who make the decisions about their land. The logging concessions are legal and still have many years left before they expire. However, rather than seeing these as only negative factors we need to find a way to work together.

A co-operative management approach, where all the stakeholders (local communities, logging concessions, government) are recognised, have a voice and are taken notice of is one of our aims. The Belantikan Conservation Programme, funded by the United Nations Environment Programme – Great Ape Survival Partnership, began in 2005 and it is attempting to engage and work with all the stakeholders of Belantikan.

One of our objectives is to see more of the area designated as protected forests (not national park) therefore maintaining key ecosystem functions, such as watersheds. We are also helping the local communities, who are highly dependent on the forests, to earn a living that is ecologically and economically viable. The communities have to make vital decisions about their land (whether to sell to oil palm companies, lease to timber concessions, how to farm it) and through increased education and awareness we can help them to understand the future implications of their decisions.

It is terribly depressing that you have to drive for 6 hours through uninterrupted oil palm plantations before you reach the forests and it is upsetting to think of all the wildlife that has been lost. Our work in Belantikan is still in it infancy and we are working to set strong foundations for what we hope will be a future for these forests, its village communities and the wildlife. However, the ultimately responsibility lies with the Indonesian government and it will be to their detriment, as well as everybody else’s, if they fail to make the right choices.

Thank you,

Cathy – Orangutan Foundation (UK office)

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Orangutan Adoption Diary – Rosa and Brian free at last!

Category: Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Lamdandau Vet, Orangutan Foundation Staff, Orangutans
Date: December 15th 2009
By: orangutanfoundation

I am very happy to tell you that based on a joint decision between Dr Fiqri (our vet), Pak Tigor (Lamandau Orangutan Reintroduction Manager) and Pak Eko Novi, the head of section II of the Natural Resources Conservation Agency of Central Kalimantan, infant orangutan Brian and adult female orangutan, Rosa were finally released from their cage out into the forest in Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, on the 4th December.

Female Bornean orangutan Rosa and her adopted son, Brian @Orangutan Foundation.

At the direction of Pak Tigor, the staff of Camp Siswoyo started to open the cage. Brian and Rosa looked impatient as they waited for the cage door to be opened - Brian was very interested in what was happening outside of the cage.

Rosa and Brian await, impatiently, for the cage door to be opened @Orangutan Foundation.

Rudi, the staff vice coordinator of Camp Siswoyo, opened the door and Rosa and Brian were carried on the back by Winto, staff member of Camp Siswoyo. Brian was frozen onto the back of Rosa, though he didn’t seem scared just wondering about the situation. Brian some times smiled and watched the people around him.

Door being opened by Rudi and Winto is carrying Rosa and Brian @Orangutan Foundation.

Brian and Rosa were taken to a watch tower, approximate 1.5 km from Camp siswoyo.

Utang, staff from Camp Gemini, took over the carrying from Winto – orangutans can be heavy! @Orangutan Foundation

Rosa being encourage to move along @Orangutan Foundation.

Utang then put Rosa down to walk but she didn’t want to. Tigor and the Camp staff eventually tried wooing Rosa and Brian with coconuts on the hand-cart, Rosa moved on the hand-cart to take the coconuts, and Tigor pushed the cart. After they arrived at the watchtower Rosa moved towards the coconuts and pineapples. Brian watched and then he followed to eat the coconuts.

Rosa and Brian enjoying their feast of coconuts @Orangutan Foundation.

Another female orangutan, Queen and her baby Query, appeared and watched from a nearby tree but then started to climb down the tower. Brian saw Queen and Query and went towards the tower and climbed on to the base.

Orangutan Queen and her baby Query @Orangutan Foundation

Brian climbs onto the tower to look at Queen and Query @Orangutan Foundation.

Rosa looked worried and followed Brian and removed him from the tower, away from Queen. Tigor and other Camp Gemini staff watched Queen and tried to chase her away from Rosa and Brian.

Rosa retreiving Brian from the tower @Orangutan Foundation

After Queen moved off Rosa started to walk holding Brian. Rosa walked for 15 minute and then stopped at a tree with a broken branch. She climbed the tree and Brian climbed too, he seemed very happy to find the broken branch. He swayed his body and climbed the tree - he was very smart and seem to enjoy himself.

Camp Gemini staff watching Rosa and Brian @Orangutan Foundation.

Finally we had to wrench ourselves away from Rosa and Brian and leave them inside the forest. 2 Siswoyo Camp staff, Rudi and Winto, followed them for 4 days and made sure everything was well for Brian and Rosa.

Brian and Rosa clmbing up into the trees @Orangutan Foundation.

Brian having fun exploring the forest @Orangutan Foundation

We wish you all the best Brian and Rosa – congratulations on being together, back in the wild and free!

Thank you to everyone who has supported our ‘Protect Me and My Tree Appeal‘ – please help us to keep these orangutans in the wild.

Thank you,

Hudi Dewe -Programme Co-ordinator

Many thanks to:· BKSDA Kalimantan Tengah (the Natural Resources Conservation Agency of Central Kalimantan)· Mr. Eko Novi Setiawan the head of section II of the Natural Resources Conservation Agency of Central Kalimantan (Kepala BKSDA SKW II Kalimantan Tengah),· Ibu Ashley Leiman OBE the Director of Orangutan Foundation UK,· Brian W. Matthews the Wildlife Photographer · Tigor Nainggolan the Lamandau orangutan Reintroduction Manager of Orangutan Foundation UK· Fiqri the Lamandau orangutan reintroduction Vet of Orangutan Foundation-UK· Uduk the Lamandau orangutan reintroduction Camp Coordinator of Orangutan Foundation-UK· Yatno for the Kijang pickup· Uli for the speed boat

Tags: Borneo, Endangered, Orangutans, Wildlife
Comments (4)

Orangutan Climate Wave

Category: Uncategorized
Date: December 4th 2009
By: orangutanfoundation

Watch our online Mexican wave in support of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition’s The Wave.

On Saturday 5 December 2009, ahead of the crucial UN climate summit in Copenhagen, tens of thousands of people from all walks of life will march through the streets of London to demonstrate their support for a safe climate future for all.

Part of a global series of public actions, The Wave will call on world leaders to take urgent action to secure a fair international deal to stop global warming exceeding the danger threshold of 2 degrees C.

The Wave – which is not just a huge march but a whole day of exciting campaign activities – is organised by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, will show mass support by people from all backgrounds for a better, low carbon future for the UK and the world.

Join the Wave!

Tags: Climate Change, global warming, The Wave
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Orangutan Adoption Diary – Brian and Rosa

Category: Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Lamdandau Vet, Orangutans
Date: December 2nd 2009
By: orangutanfoundation

The help required for the adoption process for Brian is now focussed on behaviour. The camp staff tried heckling Brian and with this method we saw how much closer the relationship between Brian and Rosa grew.

Brian moved to the other side or ran to Rosa. It also showed Rosa’s positive response.

The camp staff observed Brian running to Rosa and holding her. Rosa gave the same response and reached and held Brian with affection. Another time, the camp staff changed their method and heckled Rosa by holding her hands. Brian tried to reach the camp staff’s hand to bite it.

The result of the treatment shows good progress behaviours for Brian and Rosa in the adoption process, they are already close to each other and also watch out for each other. We hope they will be finally set free this week.

Thank you,

Dr Fiqri (Orangutan Foundation Vet)

Tags: adoption, Endangered, orangutan, vet, Wildlife
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