NEWS ABOUT ORANG-UTANS (THE STAR)

Monday May 23, 2011

Bridge of hope for orang utan

By RUBEN SARIO 

KOTA KINABALU: The state Wildlife Depart­ment and several NGOs have combined forces to repair a rope bridge across the Sungai Takala to enable the orang utan to move about in Sabah’s east coast lower Kinabatangan region.

The rope bridge straddling Sungai Takala, a tributary of Sungai Kinabatangan near Danau Girang and Batu Puting, had been damaged during recent floods.

The repairs were undertaken by the department, the Danau Girang Field Centre, the NGO HUTAN, MESCOT-Community Ecotourism Team,Ropeskills Rigging Sdn Bhd and Japanese NGO Borneo Conservation Trust.

Hard at work: Danau Girang Field Centre students Danica Stark (left) and Rodi Tenquist preparing the fire hoses for the bridge.

“The aim of this project is to create artificial bridges along the Kinabatangan river to allow the orang utan to migrate to find food and potential mates,” said department director Dr Laurentius Ambu.

He said the project was made all the more special by the fact that the Japanese NGO felt the project was very important despite the difficulties it faced following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

“Veterinarians, scientists and staff from Japa­nese zoos joined the team,” Dr Ambu said.

Danau Girang Field Centre director Dr Benoit Gossens said orang utan in the Kinabatangan region were fast becoming isolated as their ability to move around was restricted by rivers and man-made drains.

“These primates would naturally make their way upstream along tributaries to where the rivers narrowed and the trees above connected, allowing them to cross and move around freely,” he said

“Now there are oil palm plantations with drains that prevent this from happening and the apes are trapped in small patches of forest, unable to find food and mates,” he said.

Rope Rigging operations director Simon Amos said this was the company’s fourth expe­dition but the first to repair a rope bridge.

“We are delighted to provide technical assistance and our skills in rigging and tree climbing that contribute to the conservation of the orang utan and other primates in the Lower Kinabatangan flood plain,” Amos said.

Published: Sunday January 23, 2011 MYT 1:10:00 PM
Updated: Sunday January 23, 2011 MYT 5:52:01 PM

Malaysia wants orang utans abroad to 'come home'

By MUGUNTAN VANAR

KOTA KINABALU: Malaysia will help non-governmental organisations to bring back orang-utans from zoos abroad and rehabilitate them in their native environment in Sabah.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said that the government was keen to assist in the rescue of displaced orang utans currently placed in zoos in Europe and United Kingdom.

He said one obese orang utan named Oshine, highlighted by the international media, was rescued from a private owner in South Africa and was now being rehabilitated at Monkey World in Dorset, UK.

“It is being put on a diet in the centre as it had grown too fat and has apparently never seen another orang utan until it arrived at Monkey World,” he said during a dialogue with Sabah NGOs regarding issues pertaining to plantations.

“I told them (NGOs) this is one thing (rescuing orang utans) that they may want to do and the government will give all the assistance to help them get back the displaced apes,” he added.

He said there was no reason for the orang utans to suffer in the cold north European climate as there was ample space for orang utans in the forests of Sabah.

Weighing about 100kgs, Oshine, a 13-year-old orang utan, was raised by a South African couple who fed him marshmallows and other sweets.

It is now on a strict diet of of fruit, yoghurt, lean meat and vegetables in Monkey World.

According to news reports, Monkey World carers were working towards reducing Oshine’s weight to about 70kgs and teach it to be an orang utan again by letting it live next to baby orang utans.

Saturday October 15, 2011

Company donates RM5,000 to Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre

THE Brother International (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (Brother), in support of the conservation of endangered wildlife, has donated RM5,000 to the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre (SORC) in Sandakan, Sabah recently.

The initiative was part of the Brother Cares corporate social responsibility programme that began in 2005, and has been a vehicle for the company to support various non-governmental organisations, non-profit bodies, causes and community programmes nationwide.

Orang utans are among the most endangered of Malaysia’s wildlife species.

The SORC is among the most successful rehabilitation centres for these arboreal creatures that are immensely strong yet not strong enough to resist the relentless march of development.

Moving free: An orang utan going through its paces, at the sanctuary.

The centre was established in 1964 to return orphaned apes back to the wild.

The centre is administered and managed by the Wildlife Department of Sabah.

Other than the sanctuary, the centre also provides public education on conservation, research and assistance to other endangered species such as captive breeding of endangered rhinoceros.

It is currently seeking sponsors and raising funds to buy more land to provide room for the 47 orang utans being rehabilitated there.

Brother decided to lend a hand to SORC through a financial contribution to facilitate the rehabilitation of orang utans that had been raised in captivity, orphaned, abandoned, injured and those that had been uprooted from their natural habitat.

At the same time 40 employees from the company pitched in to clean the surroundings and assist with chores around the sanctuary.

Brother managing director Yoshiaki Otsuka said the company looks for new areas and ways to express its care for the community and country that it operates in.

“The more successful we become as a company, the more we target to give back and assist,” Otsuka said.

The contribution from Brother was received by SORC manager Sylvia Alsisto during a simple cheque presentation ceremony.

“Orang utan need a lot of space to support their need for food as they tend to range far and wide for the diet they prefer. Our objective is to help them function and survive without assistance from us. In the meantime, we give them shelter, treatment and training to achieve this goal,” Alsisto said.

Monday August 8, 2011

SFC in two minds over language plan for orang utan

By ZORA CHAN 

KUCHING: Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) is in two minds on renowned primatologist and conservationist Dr Francine Neago's proposal to set up a school for apes in the state.

This is because SFC, which is responsible for managing and conserving wildlife, prefers in principle to keep wild animals in their natural habitat with minimal contact with humans.

SFC managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Len Talif Sallehsaid, unlike some developed countries where orang utan were kept in zoos, the state's great apes were either in the wild or semi-wild, as in the case of those in the Semenggoh and Matang rehabilitation centres.

“Another school of thought is to have the least contact between orang utans and humans because of the risk of passing on diseases to the animals.

“But I'm not dismissing Dr Neago's proposal outright, just that in principle we would like to keep our orang utans and other animals in the wild.

“I need to discuss such possibilities with my officers and Dr Neago is most welcome to present her proposal to us officially.

“We'll see where we can help her,” he told The Star yesterday.

Dr Neago said she had created a computer-spelling programme that could help orang utan to acquire language skills and communicate with humans.

Her immediate need, she said, was a piece of land big enough for her to stay with a young orang utan and teach spelling to the animal.

If Dr Neago's wish is granted, Sarawak may become a world leader in research on the orang utan and other endangered species.

Len said, if Sarawak approved Dr Neago's proposal, it would be a major shift in the state's conservation approach.

He said he did not foresee the plan being carried out immediately as more discussions and studies on its feasibility needed to be carried out, adding that it could be a practical move in five to 10 years.

At the moment, the only possibility of such a plan being carried out soon was at the Matang Wildlife Centre, he added.

Orang utan to relearn how to survive in the wild

By ISABELLE LAI 

PETALING JAYA: It's back to “primary school” for Shirley the orang utan as she will have to relearn how to survive in the wild on her return to Sarawak after being away for 20 years.

Shirley, who made headlines in May for being a “chain-smoking” orang utan, arrived at Kuching International Airport on Thursday morning along with three other primates Ohm, Sandy and Mario.

They were picked up by Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) personnel and taken to their new home at the Matang Wildlife Centre, some 45 minutes from the city centre.

SFC corporate communications head Zulkifli Baba Noor said the orang utans were calm throughout the journey despite the stress of being relocated to a new environment.

“They even held hands with the rangers when entering the enclosure,” he said yesterday.

He said the four orang utans would undergo “kindergarten and primary school” training in the rehabilitation centre to help them survive in the wild again.

“Our vets and rangers will observe them for a week to learn their individual rehabilitation needs,” he said.

He added that there were seven steps in total.

He said the first five steps would be conducted in Matang before the primates are sent for “high school” training at the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre located in the Semenggoh Nature Reserve.

Zulkifli said the primates would be free to roam around the nature reserve and are considered semi-wild as they would still be fed twice daily.

Perhilitan deputy director-general Dr Zaaba Zainol Abidin earlier said Shirley had picked up smoking while living in a longhouse as a pet in Sarawak before being sent to the Johor Zoo.

Her habit was abetted by the zoo's visitors who threw cigarette butts into her cage to see her puff on them.

However, she has since managed to kick the habit after going cold turkey for a week during her two-week intensive rehabilitation period earlier this month at Malacca Zoo before being sent back to Sarawak.

Tuesday September 13, 2011

Organising ‘balik kampung’ for displaced orang utans?

Commodities Talk- by Hanim Adnan

DURING a media luncheon in Putrajaya yesterday, Plantation Industries andCommodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok had said in jest that Malaysia was toying with the idea of taking all the orang utans from the zoos of cold-climate Western countries “balik kampung” in the spirit of Hari Raya.

However, he admitted that currently there was still no effective platform for Malaysia to undertake such an initiative.

Balik Kampung in Malay means to return to the place of origin. In this case, Malaysia is considering to release the zoo-captivated orang utans back to its natural habitats in the island of Borneo.

This perhaps is one way to counter the constant attacks from Western NGOs to prove to them that Malaysia is a responsible palm oil producer.

In Sabah, for example, there exists a 47-year old Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary covering 4,300ha of the Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve, which was initially set up to rehabilitate orphaned baby orang utans.

In addition, Malaysia via the support of local palm oil industry and Sabah state is currently pursuing a mega wildlife sanctuary involving 100,000ha of rainforest in an area of 300,000ha of contiguous forest zones in Sabah.

Malaysian Palm Oil Council chief executive officer Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron had said the proposed wildlife sanctuary would have 100,000ha of nucleus with rehabilitation and release function for orang utan and other wildlife.

This (the size of the wildlife sanctuary) is over three times the size of Singapore. “There are 4 million people in Singapore but only 11,000 orang utans in Sabah.

This imply that if all the orang utans were to live in the mega sanctuary, they have potentially more land base than the people of Singapore by a factor of 1,350 times!” he said.

In Perak, there is also the Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island Foundation set up by Emkay Group property tycoon Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal. It has been the driving force behind the island's operations and its research centre's main source of funding.

The foundation handles the island's facilities, facilitating sponsorships and donations, organising orang utan infant relocation, displacement support, rehabilitation and education programmes, It also collaborates with universities, government agencies, schools, charitable organisations and NGOs.

While green activists and Western NGOs have been lambasting world major palm oil producers Malaysia and Indonesia for killing the orang utan and destroying wildlife habitats from massive oil palm planting, many either intentionally or unintentionally have failed to recognise the poor conditions of many orang utans kept in the confined spaces under the non-tropical climates in the zoos of Western countries .

Why can't green activitists and Western NGOs be more supportive of Malaysia's noble initiatives to protect the orang utan?

Malaysia in fact fully welcomes all to participate in its move to provide a safer and more conducive environment for the orang utan.

Therefore, for a start, why not give Malaysia a chance to prove itself to be a responsible palm oil producer?