Indonesian Conservationists Release 3 Orangutans Into the Wild

Jakarta Globe, Fidelis E. Satriastanti, April 25, 2012

Casey was one of the orangutans released on Tuesday in the Kehje
Sewen forest in East Kalimantan. (Photo courtesy of BOSF) 

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Conservationists have released three more orangutans into the wild in East Kalimantan, the third such release this year.

The three endangered primates — Casey, Lesan and Mail — were flown by helicopter from the Samboja Lestari Orangutan Reintroduction and Rehabilitation Program in Samboja subdistrict, run by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, to the Kehje Sewen forest straddling East Kutai and Kutai Kartanegara districts.

Before their release at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, they were placed in a cage overnight to adapt to the new environment, the BOSF said in a statement on Wednesday.

The release was attended by several senior government officials, including Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan, Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya and Hatta Rajasa, the coordinating minister for the economy.

The three orangutans were the first batch of six orangutans from East Kalimantan scheduled to be released in April and May. The other three orangutans — Abbie, Hamzah and Berlian — will be released next month.

The BOSF plans to release 30 orangutans this year and next from the Samboja Lestari rehabilitation center. It has already released 15 orangutans from its rehabilitation center in Nyaru Menteng, Central Kalimantan — four in February and 11 in March — into the Batikap protected forest in Murung Raya district.

The foundation plans to release a total of 40 orangutans from Nyaru Menteng.

There are still 160 orangutans at Samboja Lestari waiting to be released back into the wild, and at least 70 others that cannot be released because of illness or injuries, or waiting for available land for a suitable habitat.

“If there is sufficient land for them, the target to release all the orangutans from the rehabilitation center by 2015 can be achieved,” said Aschta Boestani Tajudin, the Samboja Lestari program manager.

The 2015 target date, she added, is in line with the Orangutan Conservation Action Plan 2007-17, announced in 2007 by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.