We rescue sad Ceria

Silje Robertson introduces a second new arrival to our centre this week...

On 7 March our team was called out on another rescue operation. Only 20 minutes drive from the centre a young female orangutan was being held captive in the town of Mulia baru, Ketapang.

The owner claimed to have found her hurt on the ground in a palm oil plantation a week earlier, but changed his story a few times during the time we were with him, so as usual there is no way of knowing the truth about the animal’s background.

She was kept in a cage outside their house together with a large number of hens. She had a chain around her neck, confining her movements inside the already small cage. Although the skin in the area where the chain was is not damaged, the lack of hair and the skin colour indicates that she had been wearing the chain longer than the seven days claimed by the owner.

Her name is Ceria which in Indonesian means happy or carefree, and it is a tragic irony. She is clearly depressed, nervous, underweight and suffering from malnourishment.

Fortunately she is eating and drinking well with us and seems to have no other medical problems. Her estimated age is 3-4 years old; she has long healthy hair and looks so much like Butan that they could be sisters. She will be monitored closely during her quarantine period, even more so because of the possible health risks associated with living so closely with poultry.