New Rescue Alliances provide a lifeline for trafficked orangutans

The Orangutan Project, partner organizations aim to decrease orangutan confiscations.

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May 20, 2021, 07:03 ET

NEW YORK, May 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Orangutan Project, an organization focused on securing the survival of orangutans and other Critically Endangered species, and partners have seen an alarming increase in orangutan confiscations over the past two months with their rescue alliances assisting authorities to rescue eight Critically Endangered orangutans.

Founder of The Orangutan Project Leif Cocks said the alarming increase in illegally held orangutans is simply the visible tip of a far more sinister iceberg.

Orangutan Asih is seen here at the Sumatran Rescue Alliance rescue center. The Orangutan Project and partner organizations are working to decrease orangutan confiscations.

"The mass deforestation of Borneo and Sumatra has left remaining populations of Critically Endangered orangutans deeply vulnerable to poaching and the illegal wildlife trade," Cocks said. "Displaced orangutans will often enter plantations in search of food and are then killed as agricultural pests. If they're female, their infants are sold on as pets through the lucrative illegal wildlife trade."

Cocks confirmed the COVID-19 pandemic has simply made a bad situation worse, plunging millions of Indonesians back into poverty. Rural people may then resort to poaching and forest crimes to survive, whilst organized crime networks are thriving.

However, there is some good news to be found in the recent spate of rescues. The Orangutan Project recently joined forces with their two Indonesian partners, the Orangutan Information Center and the Center for Orangutan Protection, to form the Sumatran Rescue Alliance (SRA) and the Bornean Orangutan Rescue Alliance (BORA).

These alliances have significantly increased the scope and frequency of their patrols and rescue missions and provided additional security and resourcing.

Likewise, while owning and trading orangutans is illegal in Indonesia, it has until now been usual for culprits to get away with the crime. Cocks said the confiscations themselves help to destroy the trade in orangutans because buyers will become wary of purchasing orangutans who can be confiscated at any time.

Both alliances also run rehabilitation centers, so every confiscated orangutan receives quarantine, care and jungle school for a second chance of life in the wild.

"We're now at the point where every orangutan counts, not just because they are a highly sentient, deep-thinking species, but because we need every Critically Endangered orangutan to be living in secure populations adding to the genetic strength and diversity of their species," Cocks said.

The Orangutan Project is urgently raising funds to resource their Rescue Alliances for the next 12 months. Tax deductible donations received before June 30 will be used to increase orangutan protection patrols, infiltrate poaching networks, conduct urgent confiscations and support orangutan rehabilitation and release.

For more information, please visit https://www.theorangutanproject.org/.

About The Orangutan Project

The Orangutan Project is a non-partisan organization that collaborates with several orangutan conservation projects on the ground in Indonesia to support the conservation and rehabilitation of orangutans and the preservation of their forest habitat. Founded by world-renowned orangutan expert Leif Cocks, The Orangutan Project's goal is to ensure the survival of the orangutan species in their natural habitat. For more information, visit https://www.theorangutanproject.org

MEDIA CONTACT:
Heather Ripley
Orange Orchard
(865) 977-1973
[email protected]

SOURCE The Orangutan Project