Primate diaries

Enter: Noel

2012-02-14T02:51:00.001-08:00

Vet Silje Robertson introduces the latest newest arrival to our emergency rescue centre…

Yesterday a man arrived at the centre and explained that about a month ago he had found a baby orangutan at the oil plantation where he works. He then offered to sell the animal to IAR, which our field manager, Argitoe made clear to him that we would not do. We got the location from the man, and early today our team set out to confiscate the animal.

As they arrived in Kepayan, Siduk they found a very young orangutan locked in a wooden cage. The man from yesterday was nowhere to be seen, but his wife and son willingly handed the small male to our paramedic, Rica. The orangutan is a small male, about 10-12 months of age and apparently in good health other than being slightly underweight for his age. We will monitor him closely over the coming weeks, and keep you posted on the progress of our newest member, Noel.

Two of our female macaques make great mums!

2012-01-27T07:14:00.000-08:00

An update from our primate centre in Ciapus, Java from volunteer Chris Wiggs.

On 3rd January, James, an infant male pig-tailed macaque, was brought in to our rescue centre in Ciapus by an expatriate European family living in Indonesia, who had kept him as a pet for 2.5 months. James is an extremely active young macaque, and our mandatory tests on arrival confirmed that he was healthy.

What to do with very young primates is always a challenge. Like human infants, they need a lot of affection, love and care, but if that is provided by IAR staff, there is a danger that they will become too dependent on humans, and jeopardise their chances of rehabilitation and eventual release, the ultimate goal of our project. Luckily, not long after we confirmed he was healthy and unable to pass any disease to other macaques, we were able to place him in a cage with Nonong, an independent adult female, who we hoped would adopt James and raise him herself. IAR staff were all tentative as we introduced them to each other, but as it turned out, there was nothing to be concerned about. Nonong and James have developed a strong bond, and Nonong is an extremely attentive mother, happy to share her food with James and indulgent of his rather boisterous character.

James was the second baby macaque that had been brought to our centre in the last few months. On 25th November, Dora, a female long-tailed macaque, was bought in by staff from the Jakarta Animal Aid Network. Dora was quite thin and extremely anxious when she first arrived, but in otherwise good health. After spending sometime in quarantine, building up her strength and getting accustomed to her new surroundings, it was decided that we would introduce her to Joy, an adult long-tailed female. Like James and Nonong, the introduction went well, and Dora and Joy now share a large enclosure together, and it’s lovely to see them play together, using the enrichment we provide and sharing food.

It’s heartening to see how well Joy and Nonong have taken to motherhood, and how well Dora and James have adapted, and we hope it bodes well for their future in the wild. However, while these two may have found a foster mother and now await their release into the wild, we can’t ignore that many other macaques are kept as pets - often caught when they are very young. IAR continues to educate and create awareness about macaques used as pets and strongly discourages people from doing this NO matter how cute they are!

Three macaques get their first taste of freedom

2012-01-24T05:46:00.000-08:00

News of our latest macaque rescues from Chris Wiggs, volunteer at our primate centre in Ciapus, Java.

Our macaque and slow loris rescue centre in Ciapus was recently contacted by a member of the public, concerned about a long-tailed macaque she had seen chained up in a residential street in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. Long-tailed macaques are a common household pet throughout Indonesia, and it isn’t unusual to see them kept in this way, particularly when they reach adulthood.

Further discussions with this woman revealed that she was herself the owner of two long-tailed macaques. After our vets explained about our centre and the ethical issues and challenges of keeping primates in captivity, she agreed to hand them over to us. So last week the IAR team headed to Jakarta to rescue three macaques!

The first macaque was an adult male that was being kept outside someone’s house, and was attached to a wooden bench by a chain around his waist. Although the owner insisted he often took the macaque for walks, the macaque looked agitated and was continually biting himself. The area was busy, and directly opposite a very noisy school, so it isn’t difficult to imagine how frightened he must have been. In these situations, IAR vets usually use a blow dart to anaesthetise macaques, but as a large number of local people, including children, had gathered round to watch, it was decided to try and sedate him by hand. The IAR vets assessed the situation and felt it was safe to do it by hand while using a net for protection. How local people interpret our actions is incredibly important to us, and we were worried how using a blow dart would look, particularly to school children! Once the macaque had been anaesthetised, he was transferred in to an IAR transport cage, and our vet Intan gave a presentation to the local residents about our project, why we were taking the macaque and our veterinary procedures. Leaflets were also handed out. The fact that a member of the public had alerted us to this macaque in the first place is a positive sign, and we hope our outreach activities continue these developments!

We then went to rescue the two macaques kept as pets. One of these macaques, a young female, was chained to a tree, while the other, a slightly older female, was kept in a cage. Although the conditions were completely inappropriate for macaques, in a busy residential area, just off a main road, and the macaque in the cage had obviously been plucking the hairs out of her legs, the owner clearly loved the animals, and she had a good relationship with them. Although she was upset to give them up, they will have a far better life at our centre, where they will be introduced to other macaques, begin the rehabilitation process and be assessed for possible future release back in to the wild.

All three macaques are currently undergoing quarantine, and will be tested for any diseases in the coming days.

New Years update from our baby school

2012-01-13T04:47:00.000-08:00

Norwegian vet Silje provides an update on the babies at our emergency centre in Ketapang

2012 is starting off hot in Ketapang, and the babies are cooling off with some ice blocks filled with fruit and syrup. Lasmi has finally finished her quarantine period and was introduced to the juveniles in their play area a few weeks ago. She was immediately checked out by the gang, Melky of course leading the “attack”, and was soon accepted in the group. Lasmi is still quite cautious, but has fitted in well with the rest.

Also out testing new ground is little Gunung, who is now regularly allowed a sneak peak at his future play-comrades in the baby school. Under close supervision he is being brought to the outside play area and introduced to the other babies. He is certainly a little unsure in the new environment, but is comforted gently by among others Lady and Rahayu.

Our latest arrival, Butan, is also showing slow, but steady improvement from her severe malnourishment and malaria infection. She is still under 24 hours a day care by the medical team, receiving medication and physiotherapy. Because of her traumas in the past, she was very depressed and had almost no muscle mass. But her appetite has increased and she is more agile, now she spends most of her time in the trees in the quarantine area – clearing them for ants! Still she has a long way to go for a full recovery, but she has a strong and wonderful personality and thankfully she is getting a little better every day.

In the clinic we are now able to add ultrasound examination to our diagnostic aids, thanks to Jan F Andersen AS, a Norwegian veterinary equipment company. One of the first candidates to test the new machine was Bandut, a 4 year old male who has a long history of diarrhoea and anaemia. This will be a great tool for us in the diagnostic work here, and as long as we make sure to bribe the orangutans with some tasty fruits, they are quite cooperative!

Baby Butan arrives at the centre

2011-11-30T08:10:00.000-08:00

IAR volunteer Paloma Corbi tells us about the worrying condition of the latest baby orangutan to be brought into our centre.

A new baby orangutan arrived at the centre on 23 November. She is a female of about four years old and currently receiving round-the-clock intensive care from the vets Adi, Silje, Lusy and paramedic Rica. We have named her Butan.

Butan is infected with a malaria parasite (Plasmodium sp). It's possible that it could be the same malaria parasite that Rahayu was suffering from (a non-falciparum, non-vivax Plasmodium). The team hasn’t yet established the species of Plasmodium but they are doing further tests to investigate it.

The little orangutan is only 6.6kg which makes her extremely underweight (she should be at least 15kg). She is very malnourished and showing signs of some neurological issues. She's making a little slow progress but she's most certainly much better than when she arrived.

Mac makes friends among the infants

2011-11-29T05:59:00.000-08:00

Paloma Corbi updates us on how Mac is getting on with the other orangutans at our centre in Ketapang, Western Borneo

Mac is a male orangutan of approximately 3 years old. He arrived at the centre on 19 October. He was confiscated in Pontianak, in an area close to Sintang. Apparently a family had kept him as a pet for at least a year. Then they found out that it was illegal to keep orangutans and they contacted the forestry department who told IAR about the situation. So a member of the team went to check the condition of the orangutan and, although he was in a good physical condition, he had a kind of dermatitis in his eyes, plus conjunctivitis. So the IAR vet gave the family some topical creams and treatments to give Mac until the forestry department gave permission for the orangutan to be rescued and brought to the IAR Orangutan emergency centre in Ketapang. Once all the papers for the confiscation were completed, Mac was rescued and brought to the centre. He kept the same treatment, adding also antihistamine oral medication, and thanks to all this care he recovered in about a week. His blood was tested to see if he has hepatitis , and also the tuberculin test was done. All the tests gave good results so that last week it was decided to socialise him with the rest of the babies.

First of all, Mac was socialised in the baby school while we observed how he behaved with the rest of the orangutans. At the beginning he was fine, investigating his new friends and playing with them, but at some point he started to play in a very rough way so that it was thought that maybe he would be better being with the orangutans in the infant area, and he certainly was! When we brought Mac to the infant area he started to interact with the rest of the orangutans, although he was a bit shy at first. After they made a full inspection of him, he started to get more confident, playing with Melky and Momo first and afterwards with Pungky and Mimi. He also thoroughly enjoyed climbing the trees and the platforms. Since that moment he has joined the orangutans in the infant area every day. And as soon as the new centre is finished he will be able to live in a large forested enclosure and learn how to be a real orangutan!

Introducing little Lasmi

2011-11-28T07:59:00.000-08:00

IAR volunteer Paloma Corbi introduces the latest addition to our Orangutan Emergency Centre in Ketapang, Western Borneo

Lasmi arrived at International Animal Rescue’s Orangutan Emergency Centre on 7 November. She is a female with an estimated age of around 3-4 years old. She comes from Ketapang: apparently she was in a police station and she stayed there for about a week before she was brought to the centre by the forestry department. The information they gave us from the police is that Lasmi was being carried in a cage by a man who, when he saw a group of policemen, ran away, leaving the cage with the orangutan on the ground. So the police decided to take her to their offices until they contacted the forestry department. Unluckily, there are some gaps in the information and it is always hard to find out what the real story is.

In any case, when Lasmi arrived at the centre she weighed 9kg, and her face was extremely pale. So her faeces were checked and they were fine. She was also given a blood test the day after she arrived to check if she had any problems and, although she was negative for Malaria, Typhoid was found. She was treated with antibiotics and also given iron to help with the production of red blood cells. When the vets analysed the blood by biochemistry, a liver dysfunction was identified. Thus she will be treated for a long time with multivitamins that come from the curcuma root. This helps the long term recovery of the liver function and apparently the treatment seems to be working as the last blood test done recently by biochemistry has been better compared with the first one done. Moreover she has been tested with the tuberculin test and it seems to be fine.

Lasmi was very shy during the first days but she is getting more confident by the day. She is still in the quarantine period which lasts 1or 2 months, so until then she can’t be socialised with the other baby orangutans. However, she likes to play alone with the enrichments and she loves to put everything on her head, even the food! Consequently she is frequently covered with mango, seeds or papaya. Strangely enough she doesn’t like bananas or the milk, but she loves syrup!! We are all looking forward to seeing her play with the other babies. Let’s hope it’s soon!

Baby Gunung joins the orangutan family in Ketapang

2011-11-22T07:18:00.000-08:00

Spanish volunteer Paloma Corbi updates us on the latest news from our orangutan centre in Ketapang

A new baby orangutan arrived at the centre in Ketapang on 3 November. The information we have from the forestry department here in Ketapang is that a man found it in a tree, in an area very close to Gunung Palung called Tanjung Gunung. Apparently he reported to the Gunung Palung National Park office and the National Park contacted the forestry department so that they could rescue the baby. Unfortunately International Animal Rescue was only told about the incident the night before the orangutan was rescued, and so our team wasn’t able to be part of the rescue operation. Thus we don’t have first hand information about what really happened and all the information we have has come secondhand from the forestry department. It is certainly hard to believe that such a young baby orangutan could be found alone in the forest without any sign of the mother around.

The little orangutan has been called “Gunung “ which means “Mountain” in Bahasa Indonesian. He is a male and we estimate just two or three months old, so the little one had been separated from his mother really young.
His condition when he first arrived seemed fine at first glance. However he was really skinny and his weight was just 2.1 kg. When he was checked more thoroughly, the vets found lots of little red spots on his belly and his chest, possibly from an allergic reaction. Also, he had a deep wound on the right side of his head and it was infected - perhaps caused by the impact of falling from a tree but who knows? The baby was treated with topical lotion for his skin and his wound was cleaned every day and treated with antibiotic cream as well. Thanks to all this care he was completely recovered in less than one week.

Gunung has an awesome character even though he is so young: he is very curious, and he is really strong. He has a very powerful grip - very different from Pedro and Paolo. He is in 24 hour care as he needs a lot of attention, and the baby sitters said that he has a very good appetite, normally he is feeding with milk every two hours but sometimes this is shorter as he is hungry before the two hours are up!

The little “mountain” is right now in the quarantine period and it will be like that for one or two months. At the moment, Dr Anita and Paramedic Rica, inform us that his faeces have been already checked and everything seems fine. In approximately one month the bloods test will be done, and the tuberculin test as well. We hope everything about his health is as good as he looks!!

Virgo the macaque joins the family in Ciapus

2011-09-26T07:14:00.000-07:00

IAR vet Sharmini updates us on the latest news from our primate centre in Ciapus, Java, home to hundreds of slow lorises and macaques undergoing rehabilitation.

IAR Indonesia received its newest member of the team on September 12th, when a female pig-tailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina) arrived at the centre in Ciapus. The female, whom we have named Virgo after the September horoscope, was originally found in a local park, before being taken by the BKSDA to the Animal Sanctuary Trust Indonesia, who transferred the macaque to us.

On arriving at the centre, Virgo was placed in to quarantine and underwent a physical examination. As pig-tailed macaques are not native to Java, we were worried about her condition, but our tests showed that she is in overall good health. Although small at just 2kg, her fur is of a good quality, her body seems healthy and her eyes, ears, nose and mouth are clear. The only sign of any physical damage is a small indentation on her tail, but this doesn’t seem to be affecting her. We also tested her for TB, and her first test came back negative.

Virgo will spend a further period in quarantine, before being introduced to Julia, a pig-tailed macaque who had been kept as a pet and arrived at our centre in March. Since her arrival, Julia has made enormous progress and is in a socialisation cage with adult male Rambo, with whom she gets on well. We will separate Julia and Rambo and introduce Virgo to Julia privately, monitor how they interact with each other, and then, over time, decide whether to move them both back in with Rambo.

Orangutan Susi is saved from suffering

2011-08-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

IAR vet Dr Adi brings us news of the latest arrival at International Animal Rescue's orangutan centre in Ketapang, Western Borneo.

On 30 July IAR vet Dr Anita successfully rescued a four year old female orangutan named Susi from the community in Pontianak, West Kalimantan. When Dr Anita arrived she found poor Susi looking very miserable and living in a terrible state of neglect. She had some really severe injuries, including a foul-smelling neck wound from the heavy chain that had been around her neck for several years until it was eventually removed at Christmas 2010.

Susi was anaesthetised before she was treated. Then Dr Anita and her team checked the condition of the wound before cutting the neck hair around it and cleaning out the pus and necrotic tissue using H2O2. After that Susi was given an injection of antibiotics (Amoxyclav) and analgesic (Tramadol).

Susi was then put in a transport cage in readiness for the move to Ketapang for further treatment and care. During this evacuation process her condition was stable and her appetite was good: she was given all kinds of fruit and ate it all, including rambutan, banana, and mango. On arrival at the Airport Supadio Pontianak, the team headed to the administration of quarantine and cargo aircraft.

Finally, at 1600 hrs, accompanied by Dr Anita and Ms Niken (Balai KSDA Kalbar), Susi travelled to Ketapang, arriving just half an hour later and being brought straight to IAR’s centre. On arrival, Susi was transferred to the quarantine cage to get intensive care from the medical team. Hopefully her condition will improve during the next three to four weeks and her neck wound will begin to heal.

Rahayu races along the road to recovery

2011-07-07T06:43:00.000-07:00

Paloma Corbi updates us on little Rahayu's encouraging progress at International Animal Rescue's orangutan centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Rahayu the baby orangutan that arrived in April is making amazing progress. When she arrived she was in a very serious condition: she had the worst type of malaria and this had affected her neurological system. We were very worried during the first week. She didn't show any visual reflex and she was also having convulsions. Thanks to round-the-clock care and appropriate treatment she finally recovered from the malaria. She started to eat and improve by the day, but sadly we weren’t sure whether she would recover from her blindness.

Already two months have passed since then and we have to say that Rahayu's condition now is absolutely wonderful. She has gained 2 kilos since she arrived and now her weight is around 6kg. Her appetite is fine, she doesn't like milk but she drinks water, Oralit and carrot juices which she loves.

As her brain was affected by the malaria we have been treating her with lots of vitamins and a lot of carrot juices. Also, you can see that her eyes are brighter and she has recovered the pupil reflex. She is very active as well, she can climb trees better than other orangutans and she plays with them as well, particularly Sindi who has been transferred to the new playground area and who is probably her best friend. Sindi is always protecting Rahayu and defending her from Puyol who is always trying to bite her!

As for her blindness, the vets think that undoubtedly she can see as she shows great skill climbing the trees and she can recognise parts of the trees as the leaves and parts as the trunks. When the baby keepers put food in the trees, she is able to climb up to get it which is clear proof that Rahayu is able to see. So we can assume that Rahayu's case is one of the happiest that we have dealt with, and we are really thrilled at her amazing progress!

You can take part in IAR's exciting project to build a brand new rehab centre for orangutans in West Kalimantan. This is a one in a lifetime opportunity, so book now to avoid disappointment!

Our orangutan infants have a new place to play

2011-07-05T07:42:00.000-07:00

Paloma updates us on the latest improvements to International Animal Rescue's orangutan centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

With 11 new orangutans arriving just last month, we have been making some improvements to the centre. As five of these orangutans are infants between 3 and 4 years old, it has been necessary to provide another area where they can play once they have completed the quarantine period. The new area is four times bigger than the baby school and it also has more trees.

However, the ground is wet, which is good because it makes them spend more time in the trees, but at the same time it is hard to build platforms and structures for them to play on.

During this entire month the plan has been to prepare this area for the new infant orangutans, although Melky, Bunga and Sindy are already enjoying the area.

Thanks to the help of the first volunteer group from WOX, the Great Orangutan Project, and IAR’s Ketapang team, the first platform has been finished. It has four floors and is very strong. The idea is to give the orangutans food on these platforms so they will get used to being high up and overcome any fear.

We still have a lot of work to do to make this infant area a great place which they can really enjoy, while at the same time training and improving their natural behaviours. It will be wonderful to see them all playing once it is finished!

You can take part in IAR's exciting project to build a brand new rehab centre for orangutans in West Kalimantan. This is a one in a lifetime opportunity, so book now to avoid disappointment!

Our 11 new orangutans soon settle in

2011-06-13T07:47:00.001-07:00

Team vet Jenny Jaffe updates us on the new arrivals at International Animal Rescue's orangutan centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

The rescue centre in Ketapang has been going through some quick changes in the last month. We took in 11 new orangutans in one go, so a lot of preparation was needed to receive them and it is a bit busier now. All of the new animals have already had their thorough health check (under anaesthesia) and are settling in well in their new environment.

There are five youngsters called Pungky, Momo, Mimi, Prima and Pinoh. They are very lively and active, and have amazed me by already being able to open a huge coconut on their own.

The adults are Pingky, Suki, Neng, Cinta (all female) and Raja and Jimo (males). Raja is very strong and people passing by the cage have to keep a good eye on him as he does like grabbing your t-shirt to pull you closer to the cage. And then its a bit of a challenge to get him to let go!

A huge new enclosure has been prepared at the back of the transit centre. The orangutans that were getting a bit too boisterous for the baby school have already been moved there (Bunga, Cindy, Melky). When the new youngsters have passed their quarantine period, they can get to know their new friends and make the most of their new home by swinging on the ropes and through the trees. It is not yet the forest environment that we have envisioned for them, but it is already a step in the right direction.

You can take part in IAR's exciting project to build a brand new rehab centre for orangutans in West Kalimantan. This is a one in a lifetime opportunity, so book now to avoid disappointment!

Rahayu’s progress makes us proud

2011-05-27T04:20:00.000-07:00

Team vet Jenny Jaffe updates us on Rahayu's progress at International Animal Rescue's orangutan centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Rahayu, the baby orangutan that was brought to us with severe malaria and who needed intensive care for weeks, is doing well. She has gained a good amount of weight and been integrated with the rest of the baby school now.

She can obviously hear by this point, but still cannot see owing to damage from the malaria parasite. I was initially a bit sceptical about how well a sightless orangutan would do in (our miniature version of) a forest, but our executive director Dr Karmele, assured me she knew of a blind adult at another rescue centre who was able to climb up high in the trees.

So after Rahayu’s quarantine period was over and she had showed skills at mastering her little jungle gym/hammock structure, we dared introduce her to the rest of the group. First just for half an hour, but when she showed supreme confidence, the next few days for longer and longer periods of time. Now she is out and about most of the day with the others. She climbs about happily, waving a free arm around till she finds something to grip, and then holding on very tight. She can manage to get to the very top of the tallest tree we have here at the baby school. She can even deal with the other orangutans playing with her while up there, pulling at an arm or a leg. We are so proud of her.

One of the funniest moments was when she latched onto our biggest, brashest male orangutan at the baby school, Melky.

He is normally a bit of a bad boy, but now he was staggering around with Rahayu holding on tightly with her little hands and feet to the hair on his belly. Melky looked like a proper surrogate daddy for a brief moment. You could almost see him thinking: ‘How on earth did I end up in this position?’

Bandut takes to the treetops

2011-05-16T06:15:00.000-07:00

Team vet Jenny Jaffe updates us on Bandut's progress at International Animal Rescue's orangutan centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Bandut, the newest addition to our group and the star of my last blog entry, is doing well. He is still in quarantine while we await the results of his blood tests (they were sent to an external lab). The stool samples we examined in our clinic just after he arrived were negative for worm eggs. But to be on the safe side we gave him deworming medication anyway and some nice dead worms came out with his stool the next day, so I’m happy our ‘new animal protocol’ does routinely include deworming!

The idea of keeping him separate from the other youngsters for a fixed period is of course to prevent him from transmitting any new diseases to them.

Apart from his health our main concern was that he might find it hard to get ‘jungle skills’ as he had been treated as a human baby for so long. Happily, during the day, when he is out of the enclosure he sleeps in, he loves climbing high up in the trees. And he is managing to find the small ripe fruits up there hanging from the farthest branches. Bandut is monitored constantly while he is exploring, as the ‘emergency centre’ he stays at is not really built for curious little orangutans and without somebody watching him, he could easily escape!

It might have been mentioned before, but this is the set up we have now: the ‘emergency centre’ for the 11 older orangutans who stay in big cages, and the ‘baby school’ playground for the 14 youngsters. This is a temporary set up though, and work is already underway on the new land that has been acquired about 15 kilometres away. It is a wonderful location for true rehabilitation as it is surrounded by and contains quite a lot of forest with the huge trees orangutans love. It is an enormous job to create the quality rehabilitation centre we have envisioned there and it needs a large investment. But the idea of seeing these forest apes swinging happily in the trees all day long is extremely motivating. International Animal Rescue Indonesia has some exciting times coming up...

Hope for Rahayu and introducing Bandut

2011-05-03T04:37:00.000-07:00

Team vet Jenny Jaffe updates us on little Rahayu's progress and introduces Bandut, our latest arrival at International Animal Rescue's orangutan centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Rahayu, the baby orangutan who was rescued recently and had cerebral malaria, is a lot stronger now. Instead of sleeping the whole day, she is now quite active, crawling around and climbing in her little jungle gym reasonably well. She has a ravenous appetite, although we have to be a bit careful about how much and what we feed her, as she gets bloated quite easily. The main issue is that she still cannot see. She arrived this way and it is almost certainly a result of the malaria. Either by damage to the retina directly or because the sight centre in her brain was damaged during the bout of cerebral malaria. Though she obviously cannot see, she does have a pupillary reflex (her pupils get smaller when we shine a bright light in her eyes), so we do have some hope that her sight might improve in the future. Although there have been many cases of malaria in baby orangutans in other rescue centres, very few have had blindness as a symptom, so it is hard to predict what will happen to Rahayu from other cases.

Our most recent rescue is luckily quite a healthy individual. His name is Bandut, and he is one and a half years old. He was rescued on 28 April in a town quite a few hours' drive away from Ketapang by our vet Anita, babysitter Dede and field director Argitoe. They left at 4am to be able to make the trip in a day and not arrive back too late.

Bandut is an extremely handsome little boy and knows very little of the life of a wild orangutan. He was kept by a childless husband and wife who treated him as their baby. He was pretty much fed the diet of a human infant (rice, milk etc.) and slept in bed with the wife. The couple is quite poor, but took care of him as best they could.

The story goes (again, you never know the level of truth it contains) that he was found by the side of the river as a tiny baby, still hairless and with the umbilical cord still attached. No mother in sight...

The couple took him into their home and the husband recently decided the time had come to give him a better life before bandut would become unmanageable.

After a long trip in the back of our pick-up, Bandut arrived at the IAR orangutan centre where he showed a lot of resilience, exploring his new home and eager to try new fruits more suitable to the diet of an orangutan. He is quite keen on contact with humans, so our main challenge will be teaching him the forest skills he has never learnt in his life till now.

The orangutans go nuts for bottles and buckets of sawdust!

2011-04-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

Paloma updates us on how our rescued orangutans are enjoying their enrichment programme at International Animal Rescue's orangutan centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Every day the orangutans enjoy a different part of the monthly environmental enrichment programme. One of these enrichments is made with sawdust which they love to play with and also, if we add some nuts and seeds, they will spend time foraging for them. It is very interesting to see the reactions of the different orangutans to the enrichment, depending on their various personalities.

At the baby school, we put the sawdust in a bucket which is placed between two hammocks. After filling the bucket to the brim with sawdust the curious ones soon come to investigate and examine it. They carefully remove the sawdust in small handfuls, but normally one of them gets very excited and has a wild game with the bucket and the sawdust. The last time Sindi took the lead. She hurried over when she saw the rest cautiously investigating the bucket, and then she was so excited that she jumped straight into it!

Then she climbed out again, landing on the grass but at the same time holding on to the bucket and trying to knock it over, which she eventually succeeded in doing. Then Sindi started to cover her head and her face with the sawdust and was clearly having the time of her life!

Karmilla, who is normally very shy with the enrichment and doesn’t engage very often, was there too and her fur was full of the sawdust because of Sindi's game. The other orangutans were completely surprised by Sindi's reaction: they just watched her and occasionally tried to join in but she was so focused on the sawdust that she hardly noticed the other orangutans.

The older orangutans at the emergency rescue centre have also enjoyed this enrichment, but in a different way. We usually put the sawdust inside a 19l bottle, adding also some rolled up newspaper and some peanuts and then we put the bottle inside the enclosure.

I have seen different reactions to this enrichment: for example, the first thing Monte does is get the newspaper out of the bottle. But when he gets it out he doesn’t do anything with it. He tips the bottle up and watches the sawdust falling, then he tries to catch the peanuts that are falling with the sawdust.

However, his enclosure mate Patrick has found a better way to get the peanuts: he gets the newspaper that Monte takes out from the bottle and spreads it out on the floor of the enclosure, then he gets the bottle and lets the sawdust fall on the newspaper, so the peanuts can’t fall through the bars onto the ground below.

I have also seen this technique used by the group of Jojo, Jingo and John, but in this group, Jojo is the one who manipulates the bottle, letting the sawdust fall onto the newspaper, while Jingo and John are watching and waiting for the moment when the peanuts appear and then they quickly snatch them!

After finding all the peanuts they all remove every bit of sawdust from their fur and also spend a lot of time just playing with the empty bottle.

This kind of enrichment is excellent as occupational entertainment because it encourages the orangutans to forage and explore new textures. It also stimulates them to think of the best ways to get the peanuts that are hidden in the sawdust. And clearly they all have a lot of fun too!

The infants are given plenty of playthings to keep them out of trouble!

2011-04-15T03:26:00.000-07:00

Paloma updates us on how Monte is getting on at International Animal Rescue's orangutan centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

A new play area has been built in the baby school at the orangutan rescue centre. The infants and babies were becoming very difficult to control because there are so many of them and the area is really too small for such a naughty group! For this reason it was decided to build another roof and add more structures and enrichments to focus our infants’ attention and give them something new to play with and enjoy together.

From my observations last year and at the moment as well, I can see that they really like the vertical and horizontal ropes and they love the tubes. They go inside them and rest there or just play going in, on or through. So we have equipped the area with various physical enrichments, some different from the tube function, some similar, adding also ropes, ladders and hammocks.

One example is the tube made out of a big barrel. I just cut the bottom off the barrel and put the rope through it, then hung it high up from one side of the play area to the other. I made some holes as windows so that when the orangutans are inside the barrel they can observe what is going on outside. We have hung two of them up in the play area and they really love them.

Another thing they used to like last year were the hammocks with roofs made from tyres and sacks. Before I tried this just with two tyres but now I have tried it with three, and it is much better! I like to use the tyres because they are made of very strong material and so are very durable and we also get them for free. So I have tried other ways to make the tubes a bit different. Using a net and the tyres, it is possible to make tubes that are vertical and horizontal, and they seem to enjoy using them a lot.

With the horizontal tube, the net gets smaller in the centre of the tube as it is very tight. Then, when they go inside they use it to lie down and it makes them slide from one side to another. With the vertical tube the orangutans like to climb it from the inside, at the same time playing at putting the net on their faces. I also add a rope inside with many bamboo pieces so they can play with it, moving the bamboo and getting pleasure just with the noise the bamboo makes. The tyres have also been used to make a simple wall of tyres: it is very easy to do and they really love going through, up and over it.

Although there are already many structures and the orangutans play a lot in the new area, it is important to evaluate now how much they use each new enrichment and how durable it is. Then we can fix the ones that haven’t been successful and look for ways to improve them and make them work. I love this task and the most rewarding thing about it is seeing how much the orangutans all enjoy it!

Monte proves a quick learner and enjoys the enrichment

2011-03-17T02:37:00.000-07:00

Paloma updates us on how Monte is getting on at International Animal Rescue's orangutan centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Monte, who is the oldest of all the orangutans in the emergency rescue centre, has been already tested for possible diseases and given general checks. Fortunately the results have been negative for hepatitis and tuberculosis and the blood test levels seem to be alright. Therefore it hasn't been necessary to put him on any treatment at the moment.

However, the vet Doctor Anita thinks that maybe Monte has some problem with his coordination or eyesight. It seems that he can't coordinate some actions properly, such as, when we give him a banana, sometimes he can't take it on his first attempt and this is probably due to some deficiency in his sight. Also, she thinks that he may have a lack of calcium in his bones because of his locomotion. For this reason he is taking multivitamins for his bones.

Despite this, Monte has learnt very quickly in his training for a blood test. We are still on the first steps with him but it is likely he will learn very fast: after just two sessions he is able to give us his arm and stay relaxed. It gives us very good expectations for his learning, and shows how intelligent Monte is.

With regard to the enrichments I have been trying, Monte loves the enrichments with leaves, just like the rest of the orangutans. I just spread some honey on leaves and make little sacks with some fruit inside placed between the branches. He likes to suck each leaf and then afterwards play with the rest. He also likes the big cardboard boxes with some banana spread and some powder: so funny to see how, after licking off all the banana very carefully, he uses the box to put on his head and try to clean himself from the powder!

Paloma returns to Ketapang to find bigger, hairier, happier orangutans!

2011-03-10T02:43:00.000-08:00

Paloma has returned to Ketapang after some time away in Australia and gives us her first impressions on how the orangutans are progressing.

It has been already seven months since I left Ketapang last June. For sure during this time I have been missing this place and the orangutans and luckily I have been able to come again for another six months.

My first impression about the orangutans after all this time has been so good. It is so nice to see right now all the babies playing together in the playground area, they are so many, and it is so amazing how the babies I knew have grown. I couldn't believe that the hairy orange ball who was climbing everything so confidently was Monti! She is so big and independent that it is a real pleasure just to observe her for hours.

Melky is already a big boy and the boss of all the babies. His weight is 18.5kg, and he is really powerful. The baby keepers do a very good job because I can imagine how difficult it must be to cope with him. I remember he used to be very cheeky when I was looking after him in the baby school, but right now he is two times bigger, therefore it has to be really hard work. Luckily the enrichments keep him busy, yet sometimes he looks for strange activities too, such as making a hole in the ground by himself and playing with the wet sand that can be found about 30 cm under the surface. He even enjoys putting his head into the hole and staying there with his head down. Perhaps he’s trying to cool his head down. So interesting to see him playing!

Also I have noted that Sindi is probably the most independent of all the babies and the biggest after Melky. She likes to be around in the trees at the highest points and watch what is going on outside the baby school. Probably she loves the wind in these places because the other day she was just sitting on the roof of the playground area and suddenly she just stood up and opened her mouth, closing her eyes as though she was just enjoying feeling the wind.

I have met also the nine new baby orangutans - Karmilla, Ongky, Jack, Puyol, Ujang, Ledi, Cemong and the youngest Paolo and Pedro. This first week in the centre I have been training myself to recognise each one. This is hard work for the first few days but after a while it becomes so evident which one is which!

In the adult enclosures my big surprise was to see Mona with very healthy and long hair. JoJo also has grown very good looking because when I left he had very little hair and now his arms, body and head are covered and his beard grows again. I can see also that the capabilities of many of them have improved a lot. Before I would only see Mona using the branches from the vegetation as a tool to get food from the nearby cages and from the outside, but these days I have also seen Huta, Jingo and JoJo using this skill: probably they have learnt it from Mona.

I also met the new adult: Monte, the oldest of all of them; Mely now with the female group - Mona, Nicky and Huta; Peni who is very aggressive towards humans and, knowing her history, I completely understand why; John who is now with the male group - JoJo and Jingo, and Patrick, the smallest in the transit, always looking for a bit of a game between the cages with the male group or with Monte.

Moreover the centre is getting bigger and also the team has grown a lot, with new keepers and baby keepers. For this reason I will focus my work on the enrichments to try to make all the orangutans’ lives busy and fun while they are still in the emergency centre. Luckily I could meet Carolynn and she showed me the work she was doing during her stay and we practiced the training behaviour to get blood tests from JoJo and Mely. I think it is a very important issue and very interesting work, thus I will be very happy to continue with it under the supervision of vet Anita.

And of course I will keep sending through news and updates frequently!

Shoulders to the wheel!

Little Paolo enjoys his playground freedom

2011-02-16T07:53:00.001-08:00

Our volunteer Carolynn sends us the latest news from our orangutan rescue centre in Ketapang.

During the last couple of weeks baby Paolo has been impressing us all in Ketapang by showing off his independence and climbing skills. He is still only about 10 months old, but he can entertain himself for hours climbing the trees at baby school. He used to spend all his time in the nursery with his buddy Pedro, but now Paolo spends at least a few hours every day socializing in the playground. Pedro comes down to baby school to play as well, but he is still quite attached to his babysitters, and isn’t ready yet to play for long lengths of time by himself.

The other baby school orangutans had already met Paolo during shorter visits, so it hasn’t been too shocking to have him around more often. Orangutan Ledi recently entered baby school as well, and has enjoyed having a new rookie to play with.

I think Paolo really enjoys the freedom that comes with baby school, including not having to wear a diaper. He immediately starts dancing and thrashing his legs with glee as soon as it has been removed. Be careful where you stand though, since an orangutan without a diaper could be climbing above you!

JoJo proves the perfect pupil

2011-02-01T03:06:00.001-08:00

Our volunteer Carolynn sends us the latest news from our orangutan rescue centre in Ketapang.

JoJo made us all very proud here in Ketapang last week when he willingly presented his arm to receive a sedation injection, allowing veterinarians Dr Anita and Dr Adi to test him for tuberculosis.

I have been working with JoJo using positive reinforcement training and a clicker for the past two months, and his willingness to learn despite his fear of needles has been astonishing.

It didn't take JoJo long to understand that when I made the "click" sound with the clicker, it meant he has behaved correctly and was about to get a piece of apple or banana covered in honey. I started out rewarding JoJo with treats for placing his arm in my hand, and then gradually extended the duration he had to patiently wait while I held his arm and disinfected a patch of skin with alcohol. After JoJo was comfortable with this behavior, I brought a needle with me for training sessions, and either showed it to him or gently touched it to his skin depending on his comfort level. It didn't take long before we were able to prick his skin with the finest needle we have, and JoJo allowed us to do so knowing that a big reward was sure to follow.

I've often felt as though JoJo enjoyed the praise and communication between us just as much as the treats and rewards. JoJo always happily took tasty food treats from me after having completed the correct behavior, but before looking at the treat he would always look to me for verbal and visual praise, as if he wanted reassurance that he is fantastic, that we are still friends, and again that he is indeed fantastic!

Meet Patrick the prankster

2011-01-26T02:24:00.000-08:00

Our volunteer Carolynn sends us the latest news from our orangutan rescue centre in Ketapang.

Patrick joined our group in Ketapang late last year, and luckily has been in good health and spirits since day one. He was kept as a pet by a Buddhist Monk in Pontianak for about a year, but luckily the conditions were miles better than those of most pet orangutans.

At the age of four, Patrick is very much a prankster and absolutely loves attention. The other day I was sitting in front of orangutan Peni's enclosure to try and get a good photo of her, and Patrick was super jealous that he wasn't the one getting stared and gawked at.

Patrick found a branch in his enclosure that was just long enough to reach me, and he batted at me several times with it. I tried to swipe it from him, but he was too fast and retreated as though he had grown tired of the game. As soon as I had my camera set up and had forgotten about Patrick, I felt something poking me in the side. I turned my head and saw Patrick with both his arms fully extended and his signature mouth open play-face, gleefully manipulating the stick. "Patrick!!!" I yelled, as I leaned to grab the stick. That time I was faster than Patrick, and the stick was mine.

Before too long, I felt the familiar jab in my side again while trying to take a picture, and of course it was Patrick again with another branch. In the future I'll be sure to spend some time playing with Patrick before taking photos of the others, at least when I'm within branch-poking-range.

Infants Jack and Puyol go to baby school

2011-01-06T04:52:00.001-08:00

Our volunteer Carolynn sends us the latest news from our orangutan rescue centre in Ketapang.

New orangutans Jack and Puyol finished their quarantine periods this week and were able to enter baby school along with the rest of the baby orangutans.

Jack appeared most comforted by Melky and Sindi who immediately wanted to wrestle and rough-house, while Puyol was definitely most excited about the carrot and honey enrichment treats hidden high up in the trees.

Puyol’s appetite never ceases to amaze me. He's still a little guy, but don’t let those skinny arms fool you. I'm sure he'll start building some more muscle on his limbs now that he has the whole day to climb and play with the group.

I was excited to see orangutans Puyol and Karmila first meet at baby school since they are both about the same age. They said “Hello” by meeting in the trees and gently tugging each other's hair a bit. I think they will make good buddies since they both tend to be a bit more laid back and relaxed than the others.

Orangutan babysitter Nur had the great idea to gather a bundle of wet leaves and sprinkle a nutrient-packed fruit supplement powder called “bubur” on top for the orangutans to forage for. Nur suspended the tasty bundle above the baby school feeding platform and the whole group foraged with great interest for at least a half hour. It was quite funny to see them all with powdered, sticky faces. This is a great way to keep them occupied while still teaching them about the importance of looking upwards for food using all natural materials.

Orangutan Bunga was one of the first to race up the platform to explore the new enrichment. Bunga might just be the most curious of all of our orangutans, always interested in exploring novel objects and finding new things to play with. I’m always laughing at Bunga’s curiosity with clothing, since she frequently tugs on her babysitters’ trouser legs and shirts as if to say, “What is the point of this stuff?” I’ve also caught her peeking inside baby Pedro’s diaper, which always has me howling with laughter.

Bunga’s curiosity also translates well into friendliness towards the other orangutans as well as with her human babysitters. I like to think of Bunga as “the popular girl” since she seems to be friends with everybody. She frequently joins in on the wrestling matches with the high-energy orangutans, while she is also content to sit and groom with her more laid back friends Ujang and Sigit. Even when she is naughty it’s hard to stay mad when she rushes over with her arms outstretched above her head. The group would not be the same without her.

Our boisterous new orangutan babies are bundles of mischief

2010-12-14T06:22:00.000-08:00

Our volunteer Carolynn sends us the latest news from our orangutan rescue centre in Ketapang.

Puyol

When our team first rescued one-year-old Puyol last week, his condition was stable but he was in dire need of veterinary care. Puyol was taken from his mother about two months ago by poachers and the incident was likely quite violent given the infected machete wounds on Puyol's abdomen and arms. Doctors Karmele, Anita, and Adi cleaned up Puyol's wounds and began treatments immediately for infection and malnutrition. The day of Puyol's rescue, he immediately latched onto Dr Karmele, and devoured bananas and formula with glee. Giving medication was never a problem since Puyol has been such a good eater. The keepers and volunteers have been toeing the line between showering Puyol with attention and encouraging him to play and climb with our other new baby orangutans Jack and Ledi. It is important to meet any baby's emotional needs, but also very important to begin training for baby school and hopefully an eventual reintroduction into the wild.

The other night, I tried to get Puyol to sleep in his hammock playpen by sitting next to him until he fell asleep. It took about 20 minutes just to get him off my lap without a fuss, and about a half hour later he fell asleep. I went to cover the top of his sleeping area with a towel in the hopes that he would sleep more soundly, but as soon as he sensed movement his head shot up and he gave a look that to me quite clearly meant, "Ummm, I'm not asleep yet. Don't you dare think of tricking me with that towel and walking away." I remember giving similar looks to my poor mother as a child, so I felt it was time I returned the favor. Puyol's head rested again on his teddy bear as soon as he saw me sit down again, and within ten minutes he was out. Success!

Jack and Ledi

Orangutans Jack and Ledi were rescued the same day as Puyol, but luckily they had been kept as pets under better conditions. Both Jack and Ledi are already fantastic climbers and they spend most of their day playing in the trees and swinging on ropes at our rehabilitation center. Watching them can be exhausting though, since Jack has become quite naughty about pulling hair the second your back is turned. He loves the attention and of course the reaction, so you've got to stay on your toes. Ledi wanted nothing to do with this type of horseplay when she first arrived, and she would hoot and holler at the sight of any play-wrestling that she misinterpreted as conflict. It didn't take long for Ledi to get used to it, however, since she has since joined in on the hair pulling sneak attacks. "At least they're healthy," I think to myself. "Very naughty, but healthy indeed."

Sweet, gentle Mely starts to enjoy life

2010-11-23T06:03:00.001-08:00

Our volunteer Carolynn sends us the latest news from our orangutan rescue centre in Ketapang.

IAR rescued Mely last month from horrendous conditions where she had been chained to a deck for 15 years, and it has been a privilege to watch her progress here in Ketapang. When Mely first arrived, her steps were very calculated and slow since she literally had to learn how to walk and climb, but now she can zip around her enclosure with ease and has no problems climbing to the top. She has become quite playful, and I always see her weaving in and out of tyre swings and ropes suspended in mid air.

Mely’s personality is so sweet that I never would have guessed that she came from such a horrific background. She always comes over to say hello whenever anyone greets her, and she is incredibly gentle. Sometimes when cleaning the enclosures, the orangutans will try to grab the rakes and brooms to play with them - or in many cases to tear them apart - and sometimes Mely tries to grab at them too. The difference is that Mely always promptly lets go as soon as I say her name somewhat firmly. Her eyes seem to apologize in an, “I’m so sorry, I just couldn’t resist trying to touch it for a second,” kind of way. I know Mely is stronger than I am, but she is so respectful that all I have to do is ask if I need something from her.

Karmila finds friends in baby school and JoJo is overjoyed when John moves in

2010-11-15T03:34:00.000-08:00

Our volunteer Carolynn sends us the latest news from our orangutan rescue centre in Ketapang.

Baby school got a new member last week when baby Karmila met the other orangutans for the first time. We had to keep her away for six weeks after her arrival to make certain she is healthy and free of any infectious diseases, and luckily all her test results came back negative. Time for the real fun to begin!

Karmila was very apprehensive about leaving her daddy’s arms (keeper Angi has been her round-the-clock caregiver since she arrived). The other orangutans were extremely curious and all wanted to touch and play with her, so this must have been quite a shock for Karmila. We decided to make her first visit a short one since we didn’t want to overwhelm her, but the next day we tried again. She did much better the second time and climbed up high in the trees with her new buddies.

Melky in particular loves to wrestle play with anyone new entering baby school, so we kept a close eye on Karmila just in case Melky got too rambunctious. A few times we had to intervene, but mostly Karmila did a great job tolerating her new friends’ playing habits.

I caught Melky wrestling a bit too rough with Karmila under the feeding platform a few hours into her stay, and decided to intervene. I yelled out, “Melky no!!!” as I ran over, and before I got there Melky let go of Karmila and started to walk away. As soon as Karmila’s arms were free and Melky’s back was turned, Karmila grabbed a fistful of Melky’s hair with one hand and swatted at him with the other. I’ve never felt more proud of her, since a girl’s got to know how to defend herself! I’m extremely confident Karmila will thrive in baby school, and find her place within the group.

Karmila wasn’t the only orangutan making new friends this week in Ketapang, since orangutan John also moved to a new living space. We introduced John to JoJo and Jingo, and they had such a fun time playing that we decided to keep them together in the same enclosure. As soon as we opened the doors, JoJo immediately ran to John and gave him a big hug that turned into an hour long wrestling match. I haven’t ever seen JoJo so filled with excitement, as he rolled about with John all around their enclosure. Jingo was also clearly excited, but he waited a few moments before joining the match. I frantically took pictures from every angle and position I could think of, but all of the photos turned out looking like the Tasmanian devil in a ball of fur! Luckily, I got a few decent shots later in the week.

Pedro's sickness scares us all, while Mely soon settles in

2010-11-03T05:26:00.000-07:00

Volunteer Carolynn from Seattle sends us the latest news from our orangutan rescue centre in Ketapang.

Last week was a stressful one here in Ketapang when our youngest orangutan, baby Pedro, became very ill. Monday morning was business as usual, with Pedro active and happy, but by lunchtime his fever had escalated to 40.2 degrees Celsius, and his eyes had sunk deep into his head with a look of drowsiness and disassociation. Veterinarians Dr Karmele and Dr Adi promptly put in an IV line to help bring his fever down and keep him hydrated while I dabbed his head and chest with a cool washcloth as he lay on my lap.

Pedro’s arms and legs cramped up and his skin was covered in goose-bumps. I was tempted to cover him with a blanket when Dr Karmele said, “The most important thing is that we get his fever down. People are tempted to cover themselves when they have the chills, but this could escalate his fever further. We have to cool his body.”

I prepared myself for the worst, since Pedro still had a fever hours later and large amounts of diarrhea. An IV pump and an Xray machine would have really come in handy to help with monitoring his status and diagnosing the illness, but we haven’t been able to buy either of those yet. Luckily, he was still willing to drink when offered a bottle and Pedro did improve by the end of the day.

The rest of the week was more of the same, with moments of recovery followed by the return of his fever. We tested him for every infectious disease and condition within our means, but no answers were found. Lack of sleep and worry had everyone on edge since Pedro needed 24-hour care. We took shifts watching him, but it’s hard to sleep while worrying about the little guy. Plus, it was quite a challenge keeping a constant eye on Pedro during a shift because he was very curious about the IV line in his arm and kept trying to tug and bite at it.

A wave of relief finally came on Sunday when it had been 24 hours since his last fever, and we were able to remove his IV line. It felt so good to hold him in my arms without a tube keeping him attached to his drip bag. Pedro was free!

The last few days came and went without a problem, and Pedro’s behavior has returned to normal. Well, almost normal, since I think he got used to the non-stop attention and affection over the last week. I’m so relieved our sweet little Pedro is recovering and able to give us strong hugs again.

Watching new orangutan Mely take her first steps into her new enclosure was a prideful moment for everyone at the center. Mely got to do so many things for the first time that day, like touch the hand of another orangutan (besides her mother when she was a baby), climb higher than one meter off the ground, and sleep in a bed of leaves. We were also able to remove the chain around Mely's neck later in the day, which was likely the most freeing moment of all for her.

Mely will have to learn what it means to be an orangutan, and we are delighted to help her with this transition. She will begin learning how to climb and find food off the ground in her current enclosure, but the real test will come once we have the funds to build a fence around our new forest land so that we can move the orangutans there. I can’t wait to see how Mely responds to climbing her first tree!

Life is a barrel of fun for our orangutans in Ketapang

2010-10-20T08:03:00.001-07:00

Volunteer Carolynn from Seattle updates us on the orangutans’ antics at our centre in Ketapang.

Baby School

Every now and again we put wood chips in rubber barrels as a type of sensory enrichment for the baby school orangutans. Food based enrichment is the easiest to make since it isn’t a challenge to interest an orangutan in a novel object with a tasty treat hidden inside, but we want to encourage them to explore and learn about new objects even if they aren’t full of yummy foods.

Last week, Monti and Sindi put on quite a show wrestling and hurling handfuls of wood chips all over the place.

Melky particularly made me laugh because he kept leaning his head back and dropping handfuls all over himself. What a delightful mess indeed! All of the orangutans had at least a few chips stuck on them by the time everyone took a rest in one of the elevated mesh nests. Good times.

Emergency Orangutan Centre

We also provided some resourceful enrichment last week at the emergency centre where the adult orangutans live.

After a long afternoon of moving animals between enclosures so that staff could go inside to rearrange their hammocks and swinging ropes, everyone (orangutan and human alike) earned a coconut.

Orangutan John was so excited he hardly knew what to do with himself, running and jumping about. After John had finished eating most of his coconut, I caught him wearing a piece of the shell as a hat. He is such a character.

JoJo opened up a coconut and held it above his head to drink some of the milk, but two streams of milk came rushing out. Jingo hurried over to drink from the other stream, and the two boys enjoyed their refreshing snack together!

Mona is a real madam and John loses a tug of war

2010-10-18T02:39:00.000-07:00

Volunteer Carolynn from Seattle updates us on the orangutans’ antics at our centre in Ketapang.

On Sunday we gave all the adult orangutans a few long pieces of sugar cane as part of their enrichment. They all chewed their tebu (Indonesian for sugar cane) in their favorite private places to enjoy a tasty treat, and inevitably a few pieces fell to the ground out of reach. I saw Mona struggling to reach a piece that had fallen, and her fingertips were just barely tapping the top in frustration. She had a stick in the other hand that she used to try to pry it up, but after watching her struggle for a minute or so I decided to come over and help. I bent down, picked up the tebu, and placed it in her hand but she immediately rejected it and threw it back on the ground!

I thought maybe this was somehow an accident so reached down again and brought it up to her more directly. Without hesitation she slapped it out of my hand so sharply that it almost hit me on the head!

Mona is very clear in her communication of, “No, I would not like your help thank you very much!” I decided not to take it personally, particularly as I see her behave the same way with her buddies Huta and Nicky. I recently set up a long PVC tube with holes in it that are just too small to fit fingers through, and I put tasty foods inside like mini bananas and cucumber chunks. Mona is always the first in her group to try to solve the puzzle of ‘how to get to the food’ with new enrichment items, and when Huta and Nicky came to help, she batted their arms away in an, “I’ve got this one,” sort of manner. Mona was right too, because she was the only one who cottoned on to the fact that you have to use a tool like a stick or piece of wire (that she had stolen from me earlier in the day) to push the food to the open sides of the tube. Nicky kept trying to use her tongue to push the food, and Huta for some reason kept trying to push a burlap sack through the holes. Needless to say, Mona figured it out first, and snatched a couple of the bananas. I certainly wouldn’t call Mona a bully though, since after she got her reward she left the device to enjoy her food in her favorite hammock. Nicky and Huta enjoyed the rest of the fruit and veggies having learned how to solve the puzzle by watching her. I’d say they have a fair system for sharing indeed!

Tug of war

A couple of times a week I like to set up a strong rope in between the adult orangutan enclosures to create a “tug of war” game. The orangutans seem to enjoy this game, and I always end up laughing at their differing strategies. Orangutan John is almost always a contender since his enclosure is adjacent to all the others. John is younger than the others, but he puts up a good fight.

The other day I gave one end of the rope to John, and the other to Jingo and Jojo. John playfully began tugging his end from Jojo, but Jojo only had to step on his end to keep it from flying away, since he probably has more strength in one leg than John has in his entire body! Jingo was chewing on the excess rope inside his and Jojo’s enclosure, but it didn’t matter since Jojo’s grip was going nowhere.

I decided to join “Team John” by grabbing the rope and helping him tug, and Jojo immediately shot me a look of betrayal which said, “How dare you take sides with that scrawny child!”

John and I tugged and tugged, but the rope barely moved. I felt something whipping me on the side, and when I looked over John was keeping the rope steady with one arm and flinging the excess rope at me with the other! He was probably just using the opportunity to get more attention, but nonetheless I decided to withdraw and let the boys duel it out. Within 5 or 10 minutes it was all over, with Jojo and Jingo coming out victorious. Some day we’ll have to set up an official bracket with prizes, and maybe a bundle of bananas tied to the middle of the rope as an extra incentive!

The rescued orangutans are full of mischief and fun

2010-10-06T04:57:00.000-07:00

New volunteer Carolynn from Seattle updates us on the orangutans’ antics at our centre in Ketapang.

Mona
Mona is both the most gentle and most destructive adult orangutan at our centre in Ketapang. She is always gentle with humans and other orangutans, but the minute she gets her hands on a new enrichment item, destruction is her middle name. She can tear apart hammocks in under an hour, and really enjoys herself while doing so. She always keeps us thinking about how to redesign items to be more durable. Mona also loves to watch baby Karmila climbing in the trees. As soon as we can start building a large fenced enclosure on the new land International Animal Rescue is working to obtain, we hope to introduce these two.

Nicky and Huta
Nicky and Huta live in an enclosure with Mona, and they are constantly teasing each other like Tom and Jerry while Mona relaxes in her hammock. Just as Nicky thinks it’s time to rest and have some quiet time, Juta will surprise her with a poke to the side and start the shenanigans all over again!

John
John is a very curious young orangutan and he loves attention from staff.

He also really enjoys enrichment items with fruit hidden inside. Sometimes he gets frustrated and plays with something else if he is having trouble solving a puzzle, but he always returns to give it another try.

Karmila
Baby Karmila surprises me every day with her climbing skills. I couldn’t believe my eyes the first time we hung her from a tree branch and she climbed all the way to the top of the tree! We assume that she didn’t have many climbing opportunities at her previous home as someone’s pet, so her abilities are all the more impressive. Her skinny little arms are growing bigger and stronger every day, and she drinks lots of milk every few hours to stay energetic. Her progress is a perfect example of what we aim to accomplish here at International Animal Rescue.

Pedro
Pedro gave us a bit of a scare last week when he had a fever of 39.9 degrees celsius. All of the vets and staff gathered around to offer round the clock help. Veterinarian Anita never left his side, and she gently dabbed his head and neck with washcloths and natural herbs to help cool him down. Luckily, his temperature went back to normal, and he is back to climbing on his own and drinking plenty of milk. Whew!

JoJo
JoJo is our strongest and oldest orangutan in Ketapang, and sometimes he shows off his power by spitting bits of food at his keepers (and volunteers)! Most of the time he is very friendly and funny, but when he wants attention, boy he knows how to get it!

Jingo
Jingo is a very playful adult orangutan in Ketapang, and we frequently see him and JoJo wrestling and swinging into each other!

Another slow loris saved from the illegal pet trade

2010-10-05T05:43:00.000-07:00

Indri Hapsari from IAR’s education team in Indonesia updates us on the latest loris to arrive in Ciapus.

Our latest slow loris was rescued on 28 September 2010. Its owner was Mr Apep who lives in Tapos 2 village, Tenjolaya. He bought the loris from a hunter for Rp. 350,000 on 16 September. The hunter also asked Mr Apep whether he would like him to cut the canine teeth of the loris (the hunter provides such a [teeth cutting] service).

The hunter had just caught the loris from the Bunder Mountain (Salak Mountains) and told Mr Apep that if he didn’t want to buy it he would sell it to Pramuka Bird Market in Jakarta.

When Mr Apep looked for information about slow lorises on the internet he found IAR’s website and then contacted us by email. Our rescue team went to his house and Mr Apep handed the loris over to them. He had kept the loris as a pet for 12 days, during which time he kept it inside a metal bird cage and fed it on apple, guava and banana.

The slow loris is a female. She is now in a quarantine cage in our Ciapus centre and appears to be perfectly healthy.

Silje the slow loris continues to enjoy her freedom

2010-09-28T03:57:00.001-07:00

UK researcher Richard Moore is working with our team in Java to study the viability of returning captive lorises to the wild. He reports the latest on Silje who was released some four weeks ago.

Silje is still doing well on the mountain - feeding and foraging, and is still in the same area (making a home range), so this is very good news. The monitoring is continuous and we are managing to get some vital data on this very little known primate at last! All this data will help with future releases and also with the welfare of lorises in captivity.

The keepers have managed to get a couple of really good photos of Silje foraging and feeding on Kaliandra flowers. She is eating about 100 flowers a night, as well as fruit (yet to be identified), insects and sap. It’s all looking very positive!

Our orangutans in baby school come on in leaps and bounds!

2010-09-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

New volunteer Carolynn from Seattle updates us on the young orangutans at our centre in Ketapang.

Karmila
Since arriving at our centre in Ketapang last week, Karmila has been active and ever curious about the world around her. Despite her skinny little arms and legs, she has been climbing and exploring almost constantly when not eating or sleeping. It didn’t take her long to get used to drinking milk and eating more nutrient-rich foods and she shrieks with excitement when she sees her food on the way. Karmila loves the companionship of others and she uses her firm grip to keep herself wrapped around her caregiver’s neck. She also loves chewing leaves, tugging on branches, or snuggling up with her cozy soft teddy bear.

Pedro
Pedro, now almost six months old, is as sociable and sweet as can be. He is always happier when surrounded by others. When not in the arms of his caretaker, Pedro spends lots of time with his buddy Paolo. Pedro loves to take naps sprawled out on his caretaker’s lap, but for some reason tends to pull and pick at the hair on top of his head. We hope that this behaviour will lessen as he gets older and interacts more with other orangutans.

Paolo
Thankfully Paolo, now six months old, has made a full recovery from malaria. His grip is strong for climbing and hanging, and he enjoys practising with the older orangutans in baby school. Paolo also doesn’t mind playing and climbing on the infant playpen by himself or with his buddy Pedro. He also loves eating and sleeping and now weighs 5kg! He can drink 100ml of milk in 60 seconds and he has a big belly and small cheek pads on his face... I think it’s almost time to put him on a diet!

Sindi
Sindi is a great leader in baby school. We want to encourage the baby orangutans to climb as much as possible, and no one sets a better example than Sindi. She is very independent and has taught herself how to climb high up in the trees. Sometimes she surprises her keepers by sneaking up on them and plopping down onto the ground from the trees. There is never a dull moment when Sindi is near!

Ujang
Ujang is a very sweet and gentle orangutan from our baby school, but he is still having some trouble learning to climb. He didn’t get enough calcium during his first year of life, so his bones didn’t grow as strong and thick as they should be. He gets around just fine by crawling on the ground, but we try to encourage him to climb by hiding snacks in the trees and playing with him on elevated platforms.

Monti
Monti has become quite the climber in baby school, and makes friends with new volunteers quite quickly.

She is far from the oldest in our group, but Monti has the thickest and shiniest coat of hair in the bunch. She never minds modelling for the many pictures we take of her!

Melky
Melky is a very confident young orangutan, and like any young male, he enjoys testing boundaries at every opportunity.

He is very clever, and is always one of the first to discover new enrichment items and hidden snacks.

Karmila the baby orangutan joins our family in Ketapang

2010-09-22T03:14:00.000-07:00

Karmele, International Animal Rescue's Veterinary Director in Indonesia, updates us on the latest orangutan to join our family in Ketapang.

Our latest arrival at the orangutan rescue centre is baby Karmila. We received information about her from local group Yayasan palung and they accompanied us during the confiscation, together with the BKSDA authorities. She was being kept by a very poor family who claimed they had found her in Lawang Darah, the area of Limpah Sejahtera state - a subsidiary palm company to First Resources. A few months back, our team rescued Helen and Jera from the same plantation. I hate to think how many orangutans have died in this plantation.

The baby is only 10 months old but she looks very skinny and is smaller than she should be at this age. For the two and a half months that she lived with the owners she would only eat rice, so it’s no wonder that she's malnourished. At least now, we can provide her with a suitable diet and veterinary care. She has lost her mother and her home, but she is in safe hands and we will give her the best chance to grow up and one day return to a protected area in the wild.

» Watch Karmila's rescue on YouTube

Youngest loris yet arrives at our Ciapus centre

2010-09-17T03:05:00.000-07:00

The latest slow loris to arrive at our primate rehabilitation centre in Java is tiny and very young - probably only two or three months old. The owners bought her in the pet market without even knowing what kind of animal she was. It was only by looking on the internet that they discovered she was a loris and therefore an endangered species. They contacted International Animal Rescue and our rescue team picked her up in Bandung.

Although very small, she seems generally healthy. It was concerning to learn from the owners that they paid more for the loris because she was so small: the older ones were 300.000 rupiahs (about £21) but this very young one was 500.000 rupiahs (about £35.50). This is not good news.

Silje the slow loris seems to be settling in

2010-09-13T07:10:00.001-07:00

UK researcher Richard Moore is working with our team in Java to study the viability of returning captive lorises to the wild.

The latest release of the female loris Silje seems to be going well so far. She has now been up the mountain for six nights and we have monitored her intensively since the release. She has not strayed away from the release area and seems to be gradually travelling further and further afield, but always returning - almost forming a range. However this is still early days, so better not be too optimistic just yet. There are definitely some good signs though...

Every night she is becoming more habituated so we can get really close to her. She is feeding constantly on Caliandra flowers, and insects, and some tree sap... and she is always on the move. The area she is in is an area which is not flat by any means, but still accessible (even though full of thorny bushes). On the second night she fell 8m out of a tree in a fight with another loris (how on earth does she find them, when we had searched the area for so long!!), but seems to be ok and has not left the area. I guess this is normal behaviour in forming territories. Last night though I did have reports that she had been attacked by a civet - she is injured, but not too badly by the sounds of things. Hopefully she will make a full recovery and continue to do well.

Silje the loris is from this area, so it is possible she knows what is edible and what is not, and is also familiar with the environment/temperature etc in general. Fingers crossed. I am currently writing a presentation for the conference in Japan, so will not be on the mountain for the next few days. But there are now two teams alternating to ensure round the clock monitoring.

The internet here has been terrible the last few days, and only seems to work in the mornings when I have been sleeping which is really frustrating!

Little Paolo suffers a setback

2010-09-03T05:00:00.001-07:00

Since his arrival at the rehabilitation centre, Paolo's condition had improved steadily. The wounds on his left and right legs healed well and his weight increased from 2.77 kg to 3.87 kg thanks largely to his four carers who give him his morning and evening milk!

Once he was feeling better Paolo became increasingly active. He started to do a lot of climbing and his grip became much stronger. There were also the first signs of his lower incisor teeth coming through.

Then one night Paolo clearly had a fever. The next day his blood was sent to the lab and the results came back positive for malaria. So Paolo has been put on anti-malaria treatment. Hopefully he will make a speedy recovery so that he can get back to his climbing antics! Reports on his general physical and mental development are good: he is already brave enough to dangle on a rope and is generally an active little orangutan with a calm, easygoing personality.

Monti becomes more independent

2010-08-23T06:54:00.000-07:00

IAR Vet Dr Adi updates us on the progress of infant orangutan Monti at our emergency rescue centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Monti is a female baby orangutan from Delta Pawan. When she arrived at the IAR rehabilitation centre on 30 November last year she was the real baby of the group. Now she is a lot bigger and weighs 5.7 kg. She has also grown dense long hair all over her body.

Monti is friends with Bunga and Melky and they are sometimes seen playing together on the platform in the 'baby school' at the centre. But much of the time Monti prefers to spend time alone, playing happily in the trees.

Since sleeping in an enclosure with Sigit, Monti has become far more active and independent. She no longer relies on the human carers to make her feel safe. She has also grown increasingly bold and brave at climbing even the tallest trees at the centre.

» Sponsor Monti

Update on the slow loris release project

2010-08-20T02:37:00.000-07:00

UK researcher Richard Moore is working with our team in Java to study the viability of returning captive lorises to the wild.

So far we have released four lorises with collars. Sadly one has died of unknown causes. By the time we retrieved the body, it was already starting to decompose so there was no way of conducting a post-mortem investigation. We knew its rough location, but could not see it at first. It was 23m up in a pine tree, which we needed ropes to climb. By the time we had located it, got hold of some ropes and climbed the tree - it looked like it had already been dead for four days or so. It was a great shame, because it appeared to be feeding well, and moving freely up to this point. (Also it was in an area where it was easy for us to follow it).

The other loris released at that time travelled down the mountain, out of the forest and into some gardens. We thought this was dangerous for the loris as there are many dogs in the area and also people working. As the loris was not in thick forest and quite exposed, we figured if the people came across it they might capture it to sell in the markets - so we caught it again ourselves and re-released it higher up. Three days later it was back in the gardens, this time further down, in between houses. It had even crossed a road to get there. I am uncertain why it is choosing to come here, as it is very noisy and slightly exposed. It also seems very happy to travel on the ground – which is quite surprising, although there are some other reports of this. I have seen it travelling across large grassed areas, with its head just bobbing up and down above the grass. Anyway, we recaptured it again, and plan to get its weight back up, then try again in a different location.

In the second release we now have one loris still quite high up the mountain. It is in an area which is virtually impossible to access, owing to the very steep sided cliffs - although we HAVE spent the last week trying to reach it! The signal seems to be moving so it would appear to be still alive, which is the main thing. And in this area it is probably very safe from recapture.

The other loris in the second collared release disappeared for a week (ie. we lost the signal), but last night we managed to track it down again. It has moved right round the mountain and come down a different valley, but is now very close to paddy fields. This may also be a problem, as there are many people working in this area too. However, we are planning to go up there tonight and see how it is doing. Hopefully if we give it some time, it may choose to move back up into a safer location.

Kiki the slow loris from Cilandak

2010-08-09T03:28:00.000-07:00

At the end of May IAR's rescue team went to the house of Mr and Mrs Johan in West Cilandak, South Jakarta. The people wanted to give their slow loris to International Animal Rescue.

The slow loris had turned up in the yard of Mr Johan's house and was found hanging on the bird cage. It might have come from a nearby house.

Like most people, Mr Johan thought that the animal was a cuscus. But a week later he found out that it was in fact a slow loris which is a protected species and cannot be a pet. So then Mr Johan tried to look for a place that would accept the slow loris and he found IAR. It was a female Javan slow loris named Kiki.

While Mr Johan was taking care of Kiki, he did not know that she was a nocturnal animal. He gave her banana, carrot and papaya which isn't the slow loris' natural food. The cage where Kiki lived was also very open and let in lots of sunlight so that she couldn't sleep well during the day. Besides that, the location of the cage was near an alley with plenty of people and noises disturbing Kiki's tranquillity. These conditions made her very stressed, and by the fifth day she had started to lose her appetite.

Kiki's condition when the rescue team arrived was very sad. She was very thin with no canine teeth on her upper or lower jaw (they had been removed by force), while the other teeth were flat (it seems they had intentionally been made flat using nail clippers so that the slow loris would look like a tame animal). She was taken to IAR's rehabilitation centre in Ciapus-Bogor and, after being checked by the medical team, she was moved into a quarantine cage.

Let's hope that Kiki can live a healthier life from now on and if possible one day go back to her home in the wild.

We welcome a new slow loris to Ciapus

2010-08-02T03:16:00.001-07:00

On 27 July we took in a Sumatran slow loris (Nycticebus Coucang) weighing 800 grams and 34 cm in length. He was handed over by someone from Bekasi Timur, Jakarta.

According to his owner, the slow loris had been purchased from a dealer in Jakarta City for Rp. 150,000. At the time the trader said he was about five months old and called Olip. The slow loris had been placed in a laundry basket of clothes but, when the team went to rescue him, they found him under a table, hiding behind a toy piano.

The owner had no idea how to take care of a slow loris, so thankfully had decided to hand him over to IAR. Apparently he had injured his left thigh, although a student who was present when he was rescued said the little animal already had the wound when he was bought from the market.

At least now Olip will receive the specialist care and food he needs and IAR’s vets can tend to his wound.

Passa, the greater slow loris: from Sumatra to Java

2010-07-29T06:15:00.000-07:00

Five years ago Mrs Yayat came to Pulau Bengkalis, Riau, Sumatra to follow the transmigration programme. Every once in a while she came back to her hometown in Pasar Sabtu Desa Situ Udik Kecamatan Cibungbulang Bogor, Java.

One time she came back from Sumatra bringing a baby animal. It was the baby of a slow loris. As she was not staying in Java for long, the baby was then reared by her cousin. News of this baby eventually reached IAR. So on 29 May 2010 the rescue team from IAR Indonesia came to the house of Mrs Yayat's cousin.

The baby was being kept inside a small wooden box in the kitchen. For food, the owner was giving it only cucumber and banana. Because of the lack of knowledge about the nocturnal behaviour of the slow loris, the owner took it out of the box every morning.

The baby was a male greater slow loris. He had been named Passa. When the rescue team arrived Passa looked unhealthy and stressed (he is aggressive). He didn't respond even when the rescue team gave him insects.

Mrs Yayah and her cousin had no idea that the animal they were taking care of was a slow loris, they thought it was a cuscus. Also they did not know that the slow loris is a protected animal and not a pet.

At the moment Passa is in the quarantine cage at IAR's Rehabilitation Centre in Indonesia, Ciapus.

It is high time people were aware of the slow loris and realised that they are animals protected by the law.

IAR Indonesia has the biggest slow loris rehabilitation centre. Right now we are about to release four slow lorises into Batutegi Lampung, Sumatra.

Let's hope that one day Passa will also live free again in the wild.

Vet student reports on her internship experience in Indonesia

2010-07-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

I am a last year veterinary student from Norway, and for the last three months I have volunteered at the veterinary clinic at IAR's rescue and rehabilitation centre in Ciapus, Indonesia as part of my last year medical training.

In advance I was correctly informed that this is not a clinic with state of the art, high technological equipment (although they have endoscopic equipment, x-ray machine and an inhalation anesthesia machine) or surgical activity around the clock. What intrigued me to come was to learn more about preventive and treatment medicine for primates as well as their rehabilitation and release. The centre cares for the Slow Loris (Javanese and Sumatran) and Long Tailed and Pig Tailed Macaque.

My days in the clinic consisted of helping out with the treatments of the animals in the clinic in the morning, in the afternoons we had surgeries or worked on treatment plans for some of the more chronic patients. The surgeries were often dental surgeries on the Loris, necessary because poachers cruelly clip their teeth of before trying to sell them. Another interesting procedure was the endoscopic sterilization of the female Macaques; minimal invasive and very effective. I also spent some time doing observations of the animals in the cages, especially individuals that were due to be released. During my stay I was fortunate enough to participate on a release, 12 Long Tailed Macaques and 4 Sumatran Slow Lorises were released in a protected forest area in Lampung, Sumatra. It was incredible to accompany the animals on their way back out into the wild, and very educational to follow the organization process that leads up to the release itself.

For a 10 day period I visited IAR's Orangutan rescue and rehabilitation centre in Kalimantan. It was my first encounter with Orangutans and they are truly fascinating. The centre had at the time I was there seven babies and eight adult individuals, held in separate locations. I stayed mostly in the baby school, helping the Indonesian animal carers keeping the small ones active and safe and assisting the veterinarians. The veterinary work consisted of critical care for an orphaned four month old baby, wound management and preventive measurements to prevent infections of the gastro intestinal tract. I've learned a lot about the troubles and challenges of a young rescue centre and the importance of preventive and natural medicine when working with primates.

It has been a wonderful three months, in most part accredited to the fascinating primates and all the great people that made me feel like a part of the centre.

Silje Robertsen,
Vet Student from Norway

Huta finds three's company in Ketapang

2010-06-28T05:38:00.000-07:00

Volunteer Paloma updates us on Huta's new living arrangements at International Animal Rescue's emergency centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Huta, the orangutan who was rescued in March, has been placed in a cage with Mona and Nicky, two orangutans of similar age. They all seem to be getting on well, particularly Huta and Mona, who will often play together, chasing each other, laughing and hugging. Thankfully their play isn't as rough as Jojo and Jingo's!

Nicky and Huta also get on, although Nicky has assumed a more dominant role, and often takes Huta's food. To make sure Huta gets her fair share, we try to feed them separately and make sure each gets enough. If things between them get too serious, Mona always steps in, playing the big sister role.

A similar thing has happened with enrichment, with Nicky, and sometimes Mona, trying to take Huta's share of the enrichment we give them all. Again, IAR keepers always put extra enrichment in the cage, to make sure Huta isn't left out.

Despite these small problems, all three orangutans seem to love being together, and Huta is clearly much happier having some sisterly company!

Some of our primates start the journey back to freedom

2010-06-21T06:29:00.000-07:00

Nicky, our centre manager in Ciapus, updates us on the latest release of macaques and slow lorises.

The team set off for Lampung, Sumatra yesterday with a group of 12 macaques and four slow lorises. The 12 pig-tailed macaques were supposed to have been released last year but the paperwork has taken ages.

The pre-survey team left for Lampung on 6 June to prepare the habituation cages and, when they let us know that they were almost ready, we started our preparations.

On Wednesday 16 June we started catching the animals at 1400 hrs. They were all weighed and microchipped and blood samples were taken from them. Then in the evening the team set off, arriving in Lampung the next morning for the last stretch of the journey by boat and then on foot.

At the release site the macaques will spend several days in the habituation cage getting used to their surroundings before they are released. Then they will be monitored for about three weeks to make sure they are getting on ok.

News has already come in that they all arrived safely and are already settling in to their new surroundings. So far, so good...!

Helen is much happier and healthier in her new home

2010-06-01T06:08:00.000-07:00

Volunteer Paloma updates us on Helen the rescued orangutan's progress at International Animal Rescue's emergency centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

With the arrival of the new units in February at the International Animal Rescue emergency centre, Helen, Jera and Yola were moved from their small enclosures to the bigger ones. Despite still being confined, the extra space and environmental enrichment has seen Helen much more active, and she has begun to build nests with the leaves we give to the orangutans twice a day, just as she would in the wild. She definitely loves the leaves!

In the beginning, Helen started to make her nest just in a corner, then she changed and started to make it in her big hammock, and right now she normally likes to make it in the deep corner of the cage, where she can have interactions with her neighbouring orangutans. She spends a lot of time interacting through the bars with them, and they normally try to steal from each other or pass things to each other, such as the sacks or the leaves. She also likes to play with the enrichment provided, and it is great to see her swinging, swaying and twirling, either by her hands or feet, and behaving like a young orangutan in the wild!

Although it has not been possible to release her yet, Helen's wellbeing has improved a lot since she moved to the bigger enclosure and she looks so much happier and healthier too.

JoJo makes a meal of his friendship with Jingo!

2010-05-21T03:34:00.000-07:00

Volunteer Paloma updates us on how JoJo and Jingo are getting on at International Animal Rescue's emergency centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Since arriving at the emergency rescue centre in November, JoJo has struck up a firm friendship with Jingo. Since they were always playing with each other through the cage bars, it was decided that they should share an enclosure together.

When we opened the door between the cages, Jingo went straight to JoJo and they started to play together, hugging each other and generally being very boisterous! It was great to see how happy they were to be together and how much fun they were having. However, after about two days, we started to notice that JoJo, who is almost twice the size of Jingo, was starting to steal his food, like a cheeky little kid! So unfortunately, we had to separate them again, as Jingo will start losing weight if he doesn't get enough food. Right now they are in separate cages, but they still play together through the bars and we often open the door between cages after feedings so they can still play and have fun.

Although JoJo is a healthy orangutan, last month he came down with pneumonia. Thankfully he recovered well after being treated by IAR's medical team. We don't know, but we suspect the poor diet JoJo was given after he was taken from the forest and kept as a pet has affected his immune system, making him more susceptible to diseases. We hope the vitamin rich diet JoJo gets at the centre will rectify this!

He has also lost quite a lot of hair recently and IAR medical staff believe this is because of the implementation of a new diet, which has seen him shed the weak hair he has had, hopefully to be replaced by much thicker hair. Even with the thin, weak hair, JoJo is so handsome, we can't wait to see how fantastic he will look with his new thicker coat!

New playground builds up the strength and confidence of our infant orangutans

2010-05-17T01:18:00.000-07:00

Volunteer Paloma updates us on the new playground for the rescued infant orangutans at International Animal Rescue's emergency centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

In February, the babies and the infant orangutans at the International Animal Rescue centre were moved to a new, bigger facility just down the road. At this facility we have set up a new infant/baby school, creating a playground area where the orangutans can play in the trees, which have been connected to each other by ropes, ladders, hammocks, tyres and platforms, which the orangutans love climbing on. It has been very heartwarming to see infant orangutans grow in confidence and strength, as they become used to using all four of their limbs and climbing high up in the trees.

Every day, different enrichment is placed in the trees, to encourage them to forage and to stimulate their curiosity. Their food is also placed in the trees and on raised platforms, encouraging them to look for it themselves, off the ground, where they can catch parasites. All these things encourage natural wild behaviour!

Although the play area is not huge, it is a lot bigger than the play area they had before, and all the orangutans are making great progress.

We can't wait to see how much they will improve in the new rehabilitation centre, when all the money is raised and it is finally built!

Baby Monti makes amazing progress

2010-05-05T02:17:00.000-07:00

Volunteer Paloma updates us on the progress of Monti, a rescued infant orangutan at International Animal Rescue's emergency centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Monti, the smallest baby orangutan at the International Animal Rescue centre, has grown a lot since the moment she arrived in November, at the age of just 5 months.
She is making very good progress, her teeth are growing and she can eat some bananas and some easy fruit to chew. Her hair is growing too, getting very long and with an intensive colour.

Right now she is very active and independent, even at her young age. Normally we used to leave her to play in the lowest branches of the tree but quickly she begins to investigate and go further up. Sometimes you cannot see her and the only thing you see are the leaves moving on the top of the tree!

She has very good coordination for her age and there aren't any hard ways for Monti, she always finds a way to go to the place she wants. Sometimes, when I am close to another tree, she finds the way to get where I am, using the connections between the trees we made with the ropes, and if another baby or infant orangutan is in her way she is very brave and tries to bite them or push them away - even Melky the biggest of the infants!

It is as though, just from a couple of months ago until now she is getting a very strong personality, and she is making amazingly good progress for her age undoubtedly!

We will keep telling you about the progress of this brave baby orangutan who is growing healthy and strong in the International Animal Rescue orangutan baby school.

Meet Huta

2010-04-14T05:56:00.000-07:00

Volunteer Paloma introduces Huta, a rescued orangutan at International Animal Rescue's emergency centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Huta is a female of about 6 or 7 years old, She was rescued in March from a place very close to the IAR centre called the Hutan Kota (City Forest) from which she got her name. This place is an enclosed forest very close to Ketapang and is one of the top tourist attractions in the area. It is easy to access and has the appearance of a large forest. However, it is not a suitable place for a wild orangutan because the trees do not provide enough food. Also, a great many tourists visit it, many of whom gave Huta human food in an effort to get close to her, which was a serious disease risk for her.

Because of this International Animal Rescue felt they had no choice but to rescue Huta and take her to the centre in Ketapang. She had been sighted a few months before but disappeared before we could rescue her. We suspect that she was taken by a local and kept as a pet then later released back into the Hutan Kota after the "owner" realised how difficult and expensive she would be to keep at home. We assume too that she was kept with people before she was taken to the Hutan Kota, possibly since she was just a baby. She is very tame and, having lacked the company of her own kind, displays behaviours similar to those of humans whom she has copied.

Since arriving at the IAR facility in Ketapang Huta has put on weight and is clearly healthier. She is very clever, almost like Mona, and she knows to use tools like sticks to get food or to steal food from her neighbours Jojo and Jingo. She loves to play on her own with the sacks and the enrichments we provide. She also used to play with Helen, who was moved to the new bigger cages close to her, passing things through the cage and really having fun.

We hope that in the not too distant future Huta will be rehabilitated and one day have the opportunity to live a natural life in the wild again.

Meet Sindi

2010-04-07T01:27:00.000-07:00

Volunteer Paloma introduces Sindi, a rescued infant orangutan at International Animal Rescue's emergency centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Sindi is a female, around 3 years old, who was rescued on 21 February from a family about 5 hours drive from Ketapang. This family said they had had her for one year. She was in a little cage when Karmele and the team went to rescue her and the family said that they normally took her out of the cage to play in the garden of the house. However, when the team tried to open the cage, it was very difficult and when they finally managed to open it, Sindi didn't know how to hold Karmele. It is likely that she had been in the cage for a long time.

Sindi had to spend a month in quarantine, until the results of all the tests were available, and after that period she went to meet her new family in the baby school, meeting other baby orangutans for the first time.

She and fellow female Bunga instantly became friends, and seem to be having a great time, playing together!

Sindi is a very independent orangutan, and often loves to be in the trees of the nursery alone, very high up, observing everything, but like all infant orangutans, she also loves playing and climbing with the other orangutans, and it's great to see that she, Melky, Bunga, Sigit and Monti have become such good friends, and Sindi looks really happy with them!

Meet Yola

2010-03-29T06:17:00.000-07:00

Volunteer Paloma introduces Yola, a rescued young orangutan at International Animal Rescue's emergency centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Yola arrived at the emergency orangutan centre in December 2009.

She is around 5 years old and was with a family who said they found her around some land that had been burned to make way for a palm oil plantation. It is likely that her mother was killed and eaten by the palm oil workers (which happened with Helen and Jera). Yola was found alone and disorientated.

When she arrived at the Centre she was very stressed, screaming a lot and showing abnormal behavior. She was placed in the enclosure next to Helen and after some weeks the two began playing with each other, touching and passing things like leaves and sacks, through the bars. At first, Yola didn't seem to have much confidence in Helen, and their interaction could get quite aggressive, but Yola settled in after a while and they became a lot friendlier with each other.

On completion of the new large enclosures, Yola, Helen and Jera were transferred and are now enjoying having much more room. As we hoped, Yola spends most of her time in the higher levels of the enclosure and has been observed playing through the bars with Jera, a male orangutan of the same age, who also spends most of his time at the top of the cage. This bodes well for when Yola, Jera and Helen are released back into the wild, which we think will be very soon!

Meet Jera

2010-03-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

Volunteer Paloma introduces Jera, a rescued young orangutan at International Animal Rescue's emergency centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Jera is a male of about 5 years old who, like Helen, was rescued from the burning of the land for the oil palm plantation.

Jera is pretty wild and we think he will be able to survive in the forest on his own, so we try to have as little contact as possible with him.

The idea is to release him as soon as possible into a safe area in the forest along with Helen!

Meet Sigit and Bunga

2010-03-01T05:20:00.000-08:00

Volunteer Paloma introduces Sigit and Bunga, two rescued infant orangutans at International Animal Rescue's emergency centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Sigit, a male of only about 1 1/2 years old, arrived during the summer of 2009. A Chinese man brought him to the centre wearing baby clothes. He had bought him a few months before but had gradually become concerned about the orangutan’s welfare and decided to hand him over to the centre. Sigit is very inquisitive and likes to investigate every thing around him.

When we take him out to play, first of all he looks around and then gradually he starts to investigate the grass, the leaves and every little stick that is lying around, and sometimes he tries to climb the trees too. He sometimes plays with Melky and Bunga but he's still a baby and soon gets tired and runs to a keeper for protection!

Bunga, a female of about 2 1/2 years old, arrived at the centre in November 2009. A family called us and asked us to go and pick her up from their house. They said that they had found Bunga three months earlier and had decided to keep her. She was in a cage in the garden of the house but apparently sometimes they let her out.

Bunga is extremely affectionate: when she goes outside to play, for the first few minutes she just clings on to the carer (that's me!) and she doesn't want to let go. But then after a while she starts to investigate and gets more confident. She's even started to climb the trees a bit too, in a more ladylike way than Melky! - and started to play with him too.

Some times she plays with Sigit too but this play is more gentle because Sigit is a bit smaller than Bunga. She loves to play with the tub and with the tyres that are hanging from the trees, but she always keeps one eye on her carer!

Meet Monti, the baby of the group

2010-02-18T02:39:00.000-08:00

Volunteer Paloma introduces Monti, a rescued infant orangutan at International Animal Rescue's emergency centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

At only about 6 months old, Monti is the smallest orangutan at the centre. She arrived on 30 November 2009 after we had been looking for her for several days. Some one had told the forestry officers that a family had a young orangutan. They said some rural people had found her all alone in the jungle and that they had been taking care of her ever since. But we know the reality is that somebody must have killed her mother first to get to the baby.

She is still very small and needs lots of care, just like a human baby. At the moment she drinks lots of milk and sleeps a lot. I will keep you posted on how shes getting on.

JoJo and Jingo

2010-02-11T05:30:00.000-08:00

Volunteer Paloma introduces JoJo and Jingo, two rescued orangutans at International Animal Rescue's emergency centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

The oldest orangutan in the centre right now is JoJo who is about 11 or 12 years old.

After all his years in solitary confinement, he loves to play with the others through the bars of his enclosure. Every day he also has time dedicated to play with Jingo and some times they play with Nicky too in the central zone in the enclosure where they can be closer. JoJo has amazing penetrating eyes and he is very smart at getting the food out of the various enrichments.

Jingo is a very active male of about 5 years old.

He climbs right to the top of his enclosure, swings in the tyres, climbs in and out of the hammocks and plays a lot with the others too! He always wants to play!

Meet Melky

2010-02-01T02:30:00.000-08:00

Volunteer Paloma introduces Melky, a rescued orangutan at International Animal Rescue's transit centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Melky is a male of about 2 and a half years old. He arrived in April 2009, a bit later than Nicky.

A resident in Pontianak brought him in, saying he had found him alone on the side of the road. Probably somebody was selling him and he felt sorry for him, bought him and then brought him in to the centre.

Melky is the most active in the infant group. He loves to climb the trees at the centre and eat the fruit from them. He is the one who gets the others to play, chasing them and nipping them. He is very confident running, climbing and pursuing the others!

Meet Nicky

2010-01-23T12:31:00.000-08:00

Spanish volunteer Paloma introduces Nicky, a rescued orangutan at International Animal Rescue's transit centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Nicky is a female of about 6 years old. We took her in in April 2009. A family had bought her and when she started to grow they left her running loose around the family property.

Nicky was rescued from her life in the city and taken to the centre to learn to live like an orangutan.

Now Nicky shares an enclosure with Mona and she likes to play using the sacks we give them for enrichment and to hide inside one of them while Mona tries to get her out.

She loves interacting with her next door neighbours Jojo and Jingo too. They play together all the time, trying to catch each other's hands through the bars and passing one another branches or other enrichment materials through the bars.

Researcher in the rainforest

2010-01-16T07:01:00.000-08:00

UK researcher Richard Moore is working with our team in Java to study the viability of returning captive lorises to the wild.

So far, I have spent much time observing the captive lorises and have compiled a very detailed ethogram of their behavioural repertoire. This I have now printed out onto various behavioural sheets in English - for me, and in Indonesian - for the keepers (and hopefully soon for me too!) I have been going through the behaviours with the keepers and teaching them how to collect behavioural data. I think in another few days we will be ready to start the official data collection (although I have already collected a fair amount myself).

I am waiting for maps of the mountain from someone Karmele knows, so that we can find suitable areas to conduct both botanical surveys and nocturnal loris surveys. This will enable us to assess a suitable area for the potential release. I am also planning (if possible) to conduct a similar botanical survey at another site where lorises are known to occur, so as to gain an idea of the suitability of the forest on the mountain.

We have had a couple of walks up the mountain in order to assess what is possible in terms of survey methods - and I am looking into conducting the rather novel, yet increasingly popular sampling method known as Patch occupancy. This will be combined with standard transects for comparison. I actually met tonight with a man in Bogor to discuss how to go about doing this. It seems a viable method of surveying when the terrain is so uncompromising. But I will keep you updated on this front.

Whilst up the mountain I collected GPS points, which I have now successfully transferred into ARCGIS, and overlaid a vegetation map (although I am hoping the new map will be a more updated version). Using this programme I will be able to map the whereabouts of the collared lorises and calculate their home range sizes, daily path lengths and any social behaviour. It is a complex programme but I seem to be making good headway with its capabilities.

Helen learns to trust us

2010-01-15T02:42:00.000-08:00

Volunteer Paloma updates us on how Helen the baby orangutan is progressing at International Animal Rescue's transit centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan. Helen was rescued from plantation workers in Borneo, after she was found hogtied to a pole and having suffered cruel beatings.

Helen is doing a lot better than she was a month ago: in the beginning she was very scared and aggressive after all the trauma she had suffered, but we have been working with her to build up her confidence in us and gradually getting closer to her each day, and now she is lovely!

I sometimes play with her through the bars of the enclosure and she likes to put my hands on her head, and sometimes just takes my hands and rests her head in my hands. She is getting a bit overweight too, which is why I try to play with her every day so that she gets some exercise. She loves the different kinds of environmental enrichment we provide and they keep her busy for hours!

» Read about Helen's rescue

Meet Mona

2010-01-11T05:52:00.000-08:00

Spanish volunteer Paloma introduces Mona, a rescued orangutan at International Animal Rescue's transit centre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

Mona is a female of about 9 years old who arrived at the transit centre in January 2009 and she has been here ever since because all the rehabilitation centres were full - and still are.

A family bought her when she was a baby and she lived with them until she was rescued. She was in the garden of the house, tied by a chain to a metal collar with a lock.

When she was rescued it was really difficult to get the collar off her.

Mona has been at the centre longer than any other orangutan, and she managed to open her old cage on numerous occasions.

She has some human habits like washing her arms when we give her a bin full of water.

She is very observant too and her eyes are always looking at the movements we make when we prepare or we put new enrichments in the cage and later she tries to take it apart and many times we have seen her using branches or enrichment material to try to open the lock on the old cage.

Right now she is enjoying the extra space in the new enclosures that have been built recently and she plays a lot with Nicky, the orangutan in with her. She is very curious too about the new neighbours Jojo and Jingo but so far she is content just to watch them without actually interacting with them.