LOOKING FOR SANTA’S MOTHER

Santa is a young female orangutan, not more than two years of age.  She was sat all by herself inside a wooden cage, and one can’t help but feel her sadness.  Santa was found without her mother and was being temporarily cared for at the Muara Wahau church complex.

No one knows how Santa became separated from her mother.  An orangutan mother will naturally protect her child fiercely until her young reaches around seven years of age, or independent enough to survive in the forest.  We can only assume that mother and daughter were under a severe threat when separated.
 

Looking for Santa’s Mother
Upon receiving a report of Santa’s situation from the Indonesian Orangutan Habitat Restoration (RHOI) Team in Muara Wahau, Kutai Timur Regency, our Program Manager at Samboja Lestari dispatched a Rescue and Release Team.  Santa was being taken care of by a pastor at the church and the Rescue and Release Team immediately proceeded to attempt to find her mother despite imaging the worst, but hoping for the best.

After meeting the pastor to check on Santa’s immediate condition, the team went to the location where Santa was found. They met the Dayak chieftains of the villages where they would start their search of the surrounding area for Santa’s mother and after explaining their mission, acquiring the permits needed then gathering information from local people, the team started the search on January 5, 2014.

The team brought Santa to the exact point where she was found in the hope of coaxing her mother to reappear, but sadly to no avail.  They searched the nearby forest and gathered more information from the local people, but they hadn’t seen orangutans around their village in quite a long time.  The team only found old orangutan nests.

Living in Samboja Lestari
Much to the team’s dismay, the search turned out to be fruitless.  It left us with no other option than to take Santa to Samboja Lestari where should could be cared for by our babysitters in the place of her mother.  Losing their mother at such a young age is devastating for a young orangutan.  Santa has lost the valuable time she needs to learn from her mother so she can become an independent wild orangutan. The babysitters can never be a full replacement of her mother, but they will do their utmost for provide the love and learning Santa needs to build her confidence and skills of how to live in the wild.  They will walk her gently through the process of the Baby Nursery, Forest School, until the pre-release stage of her rehabilitation.

A long journey lies ahead of her to finally become a wild orangutan and be able to return to natural habitat, but we will do our best to help her grow into the independent wild orangutan she was meant to be. You can help us do this.  As always, our huge thanks to you for making a difference to the future of our orangutans.