Saving Indonesia’s Critically Endangered Orangutans

ENVIRONMENT Saving Indonesia’s Critically Endangered Orangutans

Muslim conservationist at the country’s largest rescue center for the species rehabilitate orphaned apes for life in the wild

BY AMAL OMER

Deep in Indonesia’s central Kalimantan rainforests on the island of Borneo, a group of dedicated students go to school seven days a week. Medical reasons like running a fever or a visit to the doctor are the only excuse for missing class. Red wheelbarrows function as school buses for the babies, while the older students often cuddle-walk, embracing each other, or hold hands with their teachers. Some need extra nudging to keep up with their classmates as they stop to explore their scenic route.

The students at this school, the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, run by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF), are orphaned orangutans. Native to Indonesia and Malaysia, orangutans are a critically endangered species. According to the BOSF, Borneo’s orangutan population has decreased by 80% in the

Handling multiple nursery-age students at a time, the foster mothers use wheelbarrows to take the babies to and from jungle school. (Credit: BOSF) last three decades and less than 60,000 remain.

The main threat is deforestation, which converts the forests into industry-scale palm oil plantations. Indonesia ranks as the world’s largest palm oil exporter. According to the World Wildlife Fund, more than half of all packaged products consumed by Americans, such as soap, chocolate, noodles, and even lipsticks, contain palm oil.

Save the Orangutan, a nonprofit that supports efforts to protect Bornean orangutans, the only primarily arboreal great ape, deforestation also creates human-wildlife conflict. They wander to nearby villages and farms in search of food. The farmers often shoot them if they are caught grazing their crops. This can result in the surviving babies being kept illegally as pets or left orphaned and alone.

Companies burning the land to clear it for farming also causes wildfires during Borneo’s dry season. The 2015 forest fire is one of the worst on record, burning more than 6 million acres of

BECAUSE THE PALM OIL INDUSTRY EMPLOYS APPROXIMATELY FOUR MILLION INDONESIANS AND MALAYSIANS, BOS FOUNDATION UNDERSTANDS THAT SAVING THE ORANGUTANS REQUIRES WORKING WITH THE INDUSTRY.

reports that studies from 2014 estimate that over 30% of the island’s rainforests were cleared in four decades (1970-2010). This invasion of the species’ habitat causes over 6,000 orangutan deaths each year.

Agus Fahroni, Nyaru Menteng’s lead veterinarian, says, “Orangutans completely depend on the forest. It’s where they forage for food, breed and do daily activities. [Where else] can they find food, build nests and breed other than the forest? And without fulfillment of their needs … the population will perish.”

For orangutans, the world’s largest tree-living mammal and Indonesian forest. According to the Wall Street Journal, researchers found the toxic haze resulted in about 100,000 premature deaths across Southeast Asia. Orangutans suffer from injuries, like burns and wounds, and also deal with trauma and psychological issues from the fires. BOSF rescued more than 75 displaced orangutans between 2015 and 2016.

The BOSF manages 1,138,365 acres of Kalimantan’s rainforest. Between its Eastern Kalimantan location, the Samboja Lestari Orangutan Rehabilitation Center and Nyaru Menteng, they care for nearly 430 orangutans and 71 sun bears. There are also three release sites, where they monitor and protect 470 reintroduced orangutans, and one peat swamp forest conservation project, where they safeguard around 2,550 wild orangutans across 763,555 acres.

The center’s work is based on four core strategies: orangutan reintroduction, long-term sanctuary care for orangutans and sun bears, wild orangutan and habitat conservation, and sustainable community development and environmental education. Their sustainable community development programs are carried out in more than 20 local villages.

“We … consider [our] sustainable community development program as a pillar that sustains all the conservation work, because we understand that community is the main actor and the most important stakeholder in conservation,” says Fahroni.

He adds, “We created various collaborations with [the local community], like buying their fruits and vegetables to feed our orangutans…, rent their boats for staff transportation in forest areas, build nurseries with local farmers for replantation activities, [thus creating] a sustainable alternative livelihood for them.”

About half of the surrounding population is Muslim, including the farmers who provide the center with produce. Nyaru Menteng staff like Fahroni attend Friday prayers at the nearby mosque with the local community. He says, “The most basic value that we all share is to love the Earth and nature.”

This partnership has helped educate the locals about the value of the forest. They also aid Nyaru Menteng’s rescue efforts, alerting the center about orphans spotted alone or those held captive.

Though Indonesian conservation laws prohibit killing, capturing or trading orangutans,

weak law enforcement means they are still targeted by poachers to be sold on the illegal wildlife market. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be a multi-billion-dollar business. Often ranked with crimes such as human, arms, and drug trafficking, this illicit trade threatens the national security of countries and finances criminal activities.

Fahroni says some of the students cannot be reintroduced to the wild because of health conditions or disabilities, while others struggle to develop natural skills and behavior after prolonged captivity. Those that cannot be released remain in the care of BOSF in tailored rainforest areas, allowing them to live in freedom under the surveillance of technicians and veterinarians who can provide them with dedicated care.

Fahroni often carries the orphans to safety in his arms once they are found or rescued from captors. The veterinary team examines them and then places the students in quarantine to ensure they are free of transmissible diseases. (Credit: BOSF)

Nyaru Menteng currently cares for almost 300 orangutans, ranging from fully grown adults to newborn babies just a few weeks old. Though the doeeyed students display the same charm and antics of nursery and primary-age children — orangutans share 97% of the same DNA as humans — their daily class time is serious work. Their foster mothers, who double as their teachers, help them learn how to climb trees, weave leaves to make sleeping nests, and scavenge for mangoes, lychees, and figs to accommodate their largely fruit-based diet. On average, it can take 10 years to rehabilitate the orangutans for life in the wild.

Sundari prepares ingredients like cassava, red pumpkin and sweet potato that are ground and then frozen inside the hollow center of bamboo to provide nourishment and teach students foraging solutions. (Credit: BOS Foundation)

Since 2012, the BOSF has released almost 500 orangutans and recorded 22 births among the group. The orangutans complete “jungle school” at a juvenile age. Their progress is tracked by their foster mothers, who clear them for the next step, where they are temporarily housed in large-cage complexes to practice their socialization skills. The veterinary team transfers the students that show aptitude to a pre-release island. They are sent to a release site after showing competent survival skills. A team of veterinarians go to the forest for one month to assist the post-release monitoring team undertake any needed interventions.

“Whenever I go to the forest and see the orangutans living carefree, that is the best reward I can get from working here,” Fahroni says.

“This has been my dream job ever since I was in high school. It has always been my dream to save orangutans, [to] help them find their way back to where they belong in the forest. As someone who was born in Kalimantan, it is my duty to participate in the conservation of the orangutan.”

This dedication is clear to the orphans, who have a deep affection for the staff. The Smithsonian Channel program, “Orangutan Jungle School”, documenting the center’s work, shows Fahroni’s struggle to do his daily rounds at the socialization complex, where the students gather to play at the end of the school day—their last jaunt before bedtime—as they wrap themselves around his legs, latch on to his back, and even sit in his lap as he checks one of the students. A small crowd also gathers closely observing their vet at work.

Siti Sundari, a member of the enrichment team at Samboja Lestari, says being up close with the orangutans, she sees firsthand the extra dedication, commitment and unconditional love they need to progress in their training.

Wild orangutans can nurse for up to eight years. The foster mothers feed the students a soy-based formula that is better for their digestion than cow’s milk. (Credit: BOS Foundation)

“[It is] an honor for me to be a part of the orangutan rehabilitation process,” says Sundari. She considers the job noble work and one that supports her practice as a Muslim.

“We have a prayer room to perform dhuhr and asr prayers, and at prayer times we take breaks to pray and get back to work afterwards. The staff take turns doing this.”

Reflecting on his work, Fahroni says, “I chose to save endangered … orangutans. I realized that … this work can be considered to have a worship value, as well as other commandments by the Prophet (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) to maintain cleanliness, not to cut trees or kill animals. God willing, what I do may be considered

On the grounds of the Nyaru Menteng socialization complex, an orangutan practices his foraging skills, using a stick to extract honey placed in the holes of the wooden block. (Credit: BOS Foundation)

as a worthy worship upon Allah, as it may also strengthen my passion to do the best for orangutan conservation.”

With the palm oil industry employing approximately four million Indonesians and Malaysians, BOSF understands that saving the orangutans requires working with the industry. As a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), BOSF provides its expertise on sustainable production. The RSPO certification requires palm oil producers to meet social and environmental standards to lower their impact on local communities and the environment. Despite this, BOSF says certification numbers are low and verifying compliance remains a challenge. BOSF says collaboration between nonprofits, the private sector, and the Indonesian government is also needed to create sustainable palm oil production. Protecting Indonesia’s environmental resources is not only of benefit to the creatures that call this place of natural wonders home, but also to its people and their livelihoods. ih