JUSTIN LEARNS IN SAMBOJA LESTARI

Justin was hanging tightly onto a corner of his cage when a technician from Samboja Lestari entered to gently persuade him to be carried outside to the waiting car. After a few months living and being taken care of at the Conservation and Natural Resources Authority (BKSDA) facility located in Balikpapan, on December 4, 2013, the male young orangutan was taken to Samboja Lestari to enter into our rehabilitation program.

Vet Agnes Pratamiutami finished the initial health check up and he seemed healthy and active. However, later on in Samboja Lestari, the four year old orangutan would receive a further medical examination. This is to make sure that he doesn’t have any serious illness or condition which would prevent him from joining his peers in the Forest School. If the results show that he is indeed suffering from an illness, our team in Samboja Lestari will provide the necessary care treatment until he recovers.

Justin had been living and taken care of by the Balikpapan BKSDA since April 2013. Before that, he was illegally kept by humans. His “owner”, a resident of Balikpapan gave him to some relatives in Sangkulirang, East Kutai Regency. Justin was then confiscated by BKSDA and temporarily lived in a BKSDA transit cage until the Samboja Lestari team was notified to come and pick him up.

He was estimated to have been kept by humans for two to three years. From his behaviour, he was clearly tame and he seemed very used to interacting with humans. The young orangutan displayed a little bit of annoyance when our Samboja Lestari technician entered into his enclosure and he showed his teeth as a sign of his displeasure. However, when Vet Agnes approached him, the boy with thick and dark brown hair calmed down. The team carefully took him out of the cage and moved him to a travel cage to be then taken to Samboja Lestari.

As soon as he arrived at Samboja Lestari, Justin received fruit and milk from his babysitter. He enjoyed the food and drank enthusiatically, seemingly calm and not at all stressed. As we have mentioned above, Justin would have his thorough medical examination and undergo the quarantine stage before he was able to meet his peers.

There is no way for the Samboja Lestari team to find out when Justin was separated from his Mother. He is now still under seven years old and naturally, he is supposed to live under the care of his Mum in their natural habitat. To regain his natural behaviour and forest survival skills, Justin will need to learn at the Forest School with his peers. Helped by the babysitters, he will learn all the forest skills like traveling through the trees, build nests, choose natural foods, and to recognise the predators.  All of which are essential in surviving when it’s his time to be reintroduced to the forest.

Almost all of the orangutans who have been illegally kept by humans as pets since a very young age have lost their natural behaviour and chance to learn to survive in the wild. We hope Justin is in a good health so he can immediately start his learning process in the Forest School to become a true wild orangutan. Welcome to Samboja Lestari, Justin!