The Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP) runs the only rescue, rehabilitation and reintroduction programme for orangutans in Sumatra. Since 2001 over 430 orangutans have been received at our specialist orangutan quarantine station, averaging more than 20 new arrivals per year. Over 320 of these have been released to the wild, as the founders of two entirely new, self-sustaining wild populations of their Critically Endangered Species being created in the provinces of Aceh and Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia. To the best of our knowledge, we are the only project in the world actively creating entirely new genetically viable wild populations of a great ape species!
The SOCP focuses on all aspects of orangutan conservation in Sumatra, including the care of orangutans confiscated from the illegal pet trade, or displaced from their forest homes by deforestation. We care for them from their initial confiscation or rescue, all the way through their rehabilitation to their eventual reintroduction to a new forest home, and a new life in the wild.
Unfortunately, there are also a few individuals in our care that are unable to return to a life in the wild, due to injuries sustained at the hands of humans, degenerative conditions, or because they have spent too long in captivity to ever be free again. For these unlucky few, through the SOCP’s ambitious new Orangutan Haven project, we are providing them with new naturalistic ‘island’ homes, and the opportunity to continue to play a role in the conservation of their wild relatives by educating visitors and local communities about the plight facing the remaining wild orangutan populations in Sumatra and their habitat!
We are currently housing 71 orangutans at the SOCP quarantine and rehabilitation centre in North Sumatra, which is more than we have ever cared for at the centre at one time. All but the few that will go to the Orangutan Haven are awaiting reintroduction back to the wild. Any support you are able to offer is of course very much appreciated by the SOCP, and most importantly, by the orangutans themselves!
Please visit https://givingdayforapes.mightycause.com/organization/Socp for more information and to donate. Thanks!