The Central Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) and the Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park Agency, together with the Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation and other parties, are releasing more orangutans in Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park (TNBBBR). The release of these rehabilitated orangutans is part of an effort to protect and preserve Bornean orangutans in Kalimantan.
Central Kalimantan, 18 May 2022. Four orangutans – two males and two females – from the BOS Foundation’s Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre are scheduled for release today into TNBBBR in Katingan Regency, Central Kalimantan. The four orangutans have completed a lengthy rehabilitation process in the BOS Foundation’s Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. This activity is the first orangutan release conducted by the BOS Foundation in 2022.
NUR PATRIA KURNIAWAN, S.HUT., M.SC., Head of the Central Kalimantan BKSDA said, “This conservation effort needs to be supported by everyone. The Central Kalimantan BKSDA is responsible for all orangutan rescue, rehabilitation, and release efforts in the province. We would also like to call on the local community to be more actively involved in efforts to protect orangutans and their habitats. Orangutans play an important role in the forest ecosystem, and their function can only be realised if they live in the forest. Together, let’s join hands in protecting wildlife; let’s protect our forests and their biodiversity for the sake of our children and grandchildren.”
SADTATA NOOR ADIRAHMANTA, S.Hut., M.T., Acting Head of TNBBBR added, “The utilisation of the Hiran watershed as an orangutan release area since 2019 is our way of optimising the distribution of rehabilitated orangutans released here in the national park. These collaborative efforts have helped to create independent and sustainable wild orangutan populations. Four natural births have been recorded in TNBBBR since orangutans were released for the first time here in 2016. This is a remarkable achievement, particularly since the conservation status of the Bornean orangutan is still listed as ‘Critically Endangered’. It is our obligation to not only help them survive but to help them live safely and live in prosperity.
“The TNBBBR agency, together with the Central Kalimantan BKSDA and in collaboration with the BOS Foundation and other stakeholders, has succeeded in releasing 186 orangutans into the forest of the TNBBBR since 2016, including those who will be released today. Together with other stakeholders, we will continue to work towards a future for the Bornean orangutan, which, as a species, plays a very important role in maintaining the quality of the forest and the integrity of the ecosystem.”
Dr. Ir. JAMARTIN SIHITE, the BOS Foundation CEO said, “The BOS Foundation is very happy to finally be able to release these orangutans, all of whom have gone through a lengthy rehabilitation process and are now ready to live in the forest. We see it as a wonderful stroke of luck that this release will also commemorate National Awakening Day and International Day for Biological Diversity. We are currently in the third year of the COVID–19 pandemic, but we are still fully committed to safely releasing orangutans from our rehabilitation centers into the forest. The pandemic may have presented a new obstacle for us, but it is not insurmountable and it will not stop us from working to save the orangutans and their habitat.
“We humans rely on wildlife and biodiversity–based resources to meet all our needs, both as our source of basic sustenance and for economic opportunities. On this National Awakening Day and International Day for Biological Diversity, let us commit to tackling the many threats facing wildlife by using natural resources in a sustainable manner.”
The four orangutans released today have completed the final stages of their rehabilitation process on a pre–release island in the Salat Island Cluster in Pulang Pisau Regency, Central Kalimantan. This pre–release island is a semi–wild habitat used to accommodate orangutans who have already completed their first stages of rehabilitation in Forest School. Here, the orangutans practice all of their previously learned skills to prepare them for life in the wild.
The Central Kalimantan BKSDA and Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park Agency, together with BOS Foundation would like to thank the Central Kalimantan Provincial Government, the Katingan Regency Regional Government, and the community for their support and cooperation.
The BOS Foundation would also like to express its appreciation for the support and contributions of our global partner oraganisations: BOS Australia, BOS Germany, BOS Switzerland, BOS UK, BOS USA, and Save the Orangutan. We are very grateful for the support from prominent business entities such as PT. Sawit Sumber Mas Sarana (SSMS), various other conservation organisations including Orangutan Outreach, and individual donors from around the world who support our work and nature conservation in Indonesia.
Editors Note :
Nunu Anugrah, S.Hut., M.Sc
Head of PR The Ministry of Environment and Forestry
Sadtata Noor Adhirahmanta. S.Hut., M.T.
Acting Head of the TNBBBR Agency
Nur Patria Kurniawan, S.Hut., M.Sc
Head of BKSDA Central Kalimantan
Paulina Laurensia Ela
Head of Communication BOSF
Image documentation will be added to this following Dropbox link.
The Press release is available on the following link:
In collaboration with the Central and East Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agencies (BKSDA), the Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation has released 12 more orangutans from its two rehabilitation centres: Nyaru Menteng in Central Kalima
Following the successful rescue of 76 wild orangutans last year from an area along the banks of the Mangkutub River, Kapuas Regency, Central Kalimantan, a joint team from Central Kalimantan BKSDA and BOS Foundation once again embarks on a third...
Dedicated to the commemmoration of World Habitat Day on October 7, 2013, the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation East Kalimantan Orangutan Reintroduction Center in Samboja Lestari releases 9 orangutans to their natural habitat.
