New Release Site of Sumatran Orangutan in Aceh Inaugurated

SOCP and YEL have established a new orangutan release site in Pinus Jantho Nature Reserve, Aceh Besar district of Aceh Province. The four newly arrived orang-utans – Sangir, Mongki, KisKis and Pibi – are confiscated from the local people of Aceh who kept these orangutans illegally.


The SOCP and the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry's Natural Resources Conservation Agency in Aceh have recently saved four orangutans in Tripa swamp areas where forests continue to be converted to oil palm. Three of these were immediately relocated and released in the only large forest block that remains there, near the coast, but Eidelweiss could not be released immediately at that time due to an injury sustained during capture on 16 December 2010, that required treatment. The quarantine team took care for her in Batu Mblein Quarantine Center before she was finally ready to be released to the wild again, in Jantho. Eidelweiss is still wild, and therefore she did not have to go through the laborious process of having to learn to live in the wild again, so she was released in Jantho on March 24, 2011.

After these orangutans have been released, there are about 30 other orangutans in the SOCP Quarantine waiting for to be returned to the forests of Aceh, and these will all eventually be transferred to the new station in Jantho.

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Launching and Workshop on Atlas Book “REDD and Sumatran Orangutan”

YEL and PanEco Foundation launched an Atlas about Orangutan to map the ecosystem services provided by Sumatran Orangutans preventing the expanding forest degradation. The Atlas launching is part of the collaboration of YEL, PanEco and International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF). It is also part of hte United Nations Environment Programme – Great Apes Survival Partnership (UNEP-GRASP).

 

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Blind Sumatran orangutan parents give birth to healthy twins at North Sumatran rescue centre.

The twins were born last Friday (January 21) at the Batu Mbelin orangutan quarantine centre near Medan in North Sumatra where both adults are in long term care, after staff lifted their normal breeding ban to improve quality of life for elderly Gober, now well over 40.

Twins are not unheard of amongst orangutans and the other great apes (chimpanzees, gorillas and bonobos) but they are certainly not common, and relatively few zoos around the world have experience of them. This birth is also particularly notable in that both parents are blind.

The mother, Gober, is an elderly female, probably well over 40 years old, who is blind in both eyes due to cataracts. Father Leuser, confiscated as an illegal pet and released fit and well into the wild in Bukit Tigapulah National Park,  strayed outside park boundaries and was shot by villagers. He was found with 62 air rifle wounds with three pellets lodged in his eyes.


Every Conribution Helps!

Anyone wishing to help these orangutans, and many others in Sumatra, either others in the quarantine and reintroduction process, or those still in the wild, can do so by making a donation to the PanEco Foundation directly.


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20'000 sustainable oil palms

PanEco and YEL developed a pilot study to promote oil palm plantation on fallow land or degraded land on the west coast of Aceh province. This pilot study aims to encourage small holders and oil palm estates to develop new oil palm plantations on fallow land and mineral soil as an alternative to clearing rainforest.
Within the framework of the pilot study, 100 hectares of fallow land will be planted in Nagan Raya district, encouraging the utilization of fallow land on mineral soil and reducing the pressure on the precious coastal peat swamp forests of Tripa.

To date, 62 local smallholder farmers participate in the programme at two locations: 52 farmers work on 79 hectares in Alue Billie, and 10 other farmers work on 20 hectares in its neighbouring village. The farmers in Alue Billie established the farmers group “Makmur Lestari” (sustainable prosperity), while their neighbours founded TIBA (Ternak Ikan, Bebek dan Ayan), the Farmers Group for Fish, Ducks, and Chicken Farming. Approximately 53 hectares have already been cleared and the remaining 25 hectares will be ready for plantation in November. On 27 hectares, seedlings have been planted. Per hectare we plant 141 seedlings, which is the optimal density for oil palm plantations. Thus around 20'000 oil palm seedlings have been planted so far. Based on biodiversity assessments, 2.79 hectares of the pilot study area in Alue Billie have been allocated as conservation area and will not be planted with oil palms.

The pilot study has been started in May 2009 and is expected to be complete in April 2011. It is part of the Biodiversity and Agricultural Commodities Program BACP and was developed to promote sustainable palm oil production by preventing the expansion of plantations into orangutan habitat, finding acceptable alternatives for palm-oil producers and helping small holders to implement Better Management Practices. Also, palm oil cultivation under our pilot study is based on RSPO Principles and Guidelines. 

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The recovery of Mamat

The young orangutan Mamat Lepan arrived on May 27th at the quarantine station of SOCP in Batu Mbelin. When a farmer in the Sei Lepan area made a rubber clearing, he found the animal sitting on the ground, not moving. The farmer took Mamat home and attempted to raise him as a pet. After keeping him in the henhouse for one week, the farmer handed Mamat over to SOCP. At his arrival, Mamat weighed 1.4kg only (!) and appeared to suffer from dehydration. He received intensive care and thanks to his good appetite recovered quickly. Now, he's sharing an isolation cage with Chaka, Wenda and Suro.

Mamat is one of three orangutans entering the quarantine between April and June. On the other hand, ten animals were transferred to Jambi fo reintroduction. You can find more about their stories and other SOCP activities in the latest report.

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Orangutan veterinary workshop

Between August 2 and 6 the Orangutan Conservancy, in cooperation with PanEco and Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari YEL, held the second annual orangutan veterinary workshop in Sibolangit, North Sumatra. The focus of the meeting was on current issues pertaining to the most common diseases in orangutan reintroduction centers. The workshop identified the most common diseases encountered in orangutan quarantine and reintroduction centers and focused on risk analysis methods for minimizing the incidence and severity of cases. Particular attention was paid to parasites, since they are so common among illegal pet orangutans, and tuberculosis, which is notoriously difficult to detect and to treat in orangutans. Practical training in parasitology techniques was provided at the SOCP quarantine center.

The results of the workshop will be used by the various centers holding orangutans in Indonesia to improve management of the animals in their care, and to minimize the risks of introducing new diseases. A plan for further data collection during the coming year was also put in place. It will be reviewed and evaluated at the 3rd meeting, scheduled for Jogjakarta in 2011. As a side trip to the event participants visited the former orangutan rehabilitation centre at Bohorok, Bukit Lawang where they were able to see Sumatran orangutans in the forest and to discuss conservation issues with staff of the Gunung Leuser National Park.

The main resource persons and facilitators were Dr. Steve Unwin from Chester Zoo UK, Dr. Wendi Bailey from Liverpool School of Tropical medicine and Ms. Raffaella Commitante from the Orangutan Conservancy. Besides staff of the SOCP, participants of the workshop included representatives of several NGOs working in orangutan rehabilitation such as the Bornean Orangutan Survival Foundation BOS, Frankfurt Zoological Society FZS, Orangutan Foundation-UK and Orangutan Foundation International. From academic institutions participants represented the Gajah Mada University in Jogjakarta, the Primate Study Centre of the Bogor Agricultural Institute (PSSP-IPB), Putra University in Malaysia, and Syiah Kuala University in Aceh.

Orangutan survey results

The Gunung Leuser National Park Authority (Balai Besar Taman Nasional Gunung Leuser/BBTNGL) and UNESCO held a two-day workshop in Meddan on the „Socialisation of Survey Results on Orangutan Distribution and Density in the eastern part of Gunung Leuser National Park". Five resource persons presented various issues related to the recent survey, among them Dr. Serge Wich from PanEco/YEL, who presented the "Results of Surveys on Orangutan Distribution and Density in the Eastern Part of Gunung Leuser National Park".

In his presentation, Dr. Serge Wich gave an overview of the survey result, which was a joint activity between PanEco, its partner Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari and UNESCO. The preliminary analyses of the data indicates that the area below 1,500 meters asl in the eastern part of the National Park contains between 1065 to 1817 individuals of the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii). However, it is important to realize that the numbers are preliminary and will change once the complete set of surveys in the East and Western part of the Gunung Leuser National Park have been completed. When the two phase survey is completely done, the GLNP will be the first National Park in Indonesia to posses the a comprehensive database on the orangutan.
 
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Batang Toru forest signed

To prevent further destruction of orangutan habitat in the Batang Toru forest, PanEco and its key partner in Indonesia, Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari YEL facilitated the Forestry and Estate Crop Department of Central Tapanuli district to install signage and billboards along the boundary of the Batang Toru forest in the Pinang Sori sub-district in Central Tapanuli, North Sumatra. The signage and billboards were installed along the boundary of Batang Toru forest in Toga Basir, a village inhabited mostly by immigrants from Nias island.

Prior to the installation of signage and billboards, two socialization meetings were held outlining the importance of protecting forest as a life supporting system.

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Raising awareness for Batang Toru

PanEco and its key partner in Indonesia, Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari YEL, conducted an awareness programme among Nias church leaders and teachers in Central Tapanuli, North Sumatra. Fifty church leaders from Resort 40 of BNKP churches (Banua Niha Kriso Protestan) attended the programme that was held in the BNKP church of Aek Habil in Pandan on 7th May 2010. The awareness programme aims to inform the Nias church leaders about the importance of conserving the Batang Toru Forest blocks and to encourage them to support protection of the forest through religious events.

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Annual Report 2009

In 2009 SOCP was heavily involved in reintroduction and conservation. A total of 31 orangutans were received at the quarantine and 22 sent to Jambi to start the process of reintroduction. The district governments of North, South and Central Tapanuli agreed to change the Batang Toru forest status from production to protection. Tripa is now a consistent part of the ecological land use planning in Aceh, while an international media campaign forced the major culprit of the destruction to stop the expansion of palm oil plantations.

Read the full PanEco Annual Report 2009 for more details.

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New information center on Sumatra

On April 23, YEL chairman dr Sofyan Tan, and the head of the North Sumatran Conservation Agency (BKSDA North Sumatra), Ir. Djati Witjaksono Hadi, signed a  contract of cooperation to establish the new Nature Conservation Information Center (abbreviated in Indonesian to PIKA) in the Sibolangit Nature Recreation Park, an former botanical garden located near to SOCP's existing orangutan quarantine centre. In partnership with BKSDA, PanEco and YEL will together renovate existing facilities, establish education displays (including some ‚living' displays), regenerate the forest plants, promote research and develop environmental education programmes to increase awareness of the rainforest, orangutans and other wild species. The new center will promote Sibolangit and conservation in the region at a local, national and international level.

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News

Orphans of the paradise

Recently, a French TV channel broadcastet a documentary on the fight for the last orangutans on Borneo and Sumatra. Olivia Mokiejewski joined Animal Rescue International, visited our quarantine centre and accompanied Ian Singleton for a reintroduction.

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