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Orangutans are gentle, playful creatures, with a
diet of leaves, bark, flowers, fruit and insects. As
they never attack humans, they are easy to catch or
kill. During the Dutch rule in Indonesia, the colonial
officials considered it fashionable to keep these
entertaining, gentle animals as pets. The local people
picked up this practice, and a caged orangutan was
considered a status symbol by Indonesians. Fifty years
ago, the decline of the orangutan population caused it
to be listed as an endangered species, and it has since
been illegal in Indonesia to trap or kill these
creatures. However, the laws protecting the orangutan
were ignored by most people. However, today, thanks to
the efforts of two Swiss women zoologists, Regina Frey
and Monica Borner, that attitude is changing. In 1973,
under the auspices of the Frankfurt Zoological Society,
they launched the Orangutan Rehabilitation Station on
the Bohorok River near the village of Bukit Lawang in
North Sumatra. This location was considered ideal
because the river provides a natural boundary between
the reserve and civilization for the water-fearing apes.
The orangutans have a home range of only six
kilometers, and, after being released into the forest,
do not venture far in the reserve of 8,000 square
kilometers. With help from Indonesian officials, the
Swiss women located owners of orangutans and persuaded
them to surrender their pets. After transporting them
back to the rehabilitation station, they quarantined
them to prevent the spread of possible diseases amongst
the wild population, and then slowly taught them the
skills necessary for survival in the jungle. The most
important of these
are tree climbing, foraging, wariness of humans, and
learning to make a nest. Orangutans build homes out of
leaves and sleep safe from leopards in the trees. At
the station, once the orangutans are released into the
jungle, they are fed an intentionally monotonous diet of
bananas to encourage them to find more interesting food
on heir own. It is these banana feedings that groups of
tourists are allowed to watch. To teach the
orangutans to become less dependent on humans, visitors
are allowed into the reserve for only an hour, twice a
day. Visitors travel in a canoe from the "civilized"
side of the river to the reserve, from where a 45-minute
walk takes them to the feeding station. Orangutans that
have not been successful in gathering food will come to
this feeding station, swinging through the trees, for a
handout of bananas. As they gracefully bend one tree to
reach another, they turn upside down, and sideways,
using their feet and hands equally. Nothing is done with
the quick, nervous motions of their cousins, the
monkeys. No, these "men of the jungle" make their way
with care and deliberation, yet visitors are surprised
at how fast they appear and disappear into the treetops.
In 1980, the Frankfurt Zoological Society turned the
Bohorok Station over to the Indonesian Government, and
since then the Indonesian Nature Conservancy has managed
it. They continue in the footsteps of the first two
women, only they are more aggressive in their
confisccation of
caged orangutans. And, because of publicity about the
center, it is no longer common for Indonesians to keep
orangutans as status symbols. |
