AN AMAZING ENCOUNTER WITH SVENJA
Our PRM team in the Hiran watershed of TNBBBR conducts phenology surveys and unexpectedly encountered Svenja.
We are delighted to report that the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation officially opened our brand new quarantine and socialization facility at Nyaru Menteng! This long-awaited facility is of huge importance in increasing our efforts and efficiency in orangutan reintroductions within Central Kalimantan. This new quarantine facility will replace the current, much smaller quarantine facility which is insufficient for quarantining larger numbers of orangutans at any one time.
Based on the Best Practice Guidelines for the Reintroduction of Great Apes from IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and the Strategy and Action Plan for the Conservation of Indonesian’s Orangutans 2007-2017, strict orangutan health protocols and quarantine is required to ensure that orangutans being returned to the forest are healthy and will not introduce any diseases, which could be fatal for a newly reintroduced population or endanger existing wild orangutans.
Construction of this enclosure commenced in May 2012, and now complete this facility will enable those orangutans, which have completed their final stage of forest school on our pre-release islands, to progress through quarantine and health testing before being reintroduced to the wild and monitored by the Post Release Monitoring Teams in the field. We will then be able us to place currently-queuing orangutans onto the islands so they too can complete their final stage of training.
Following a traditional Dayak ceremony to bless the new facility, a hand-over ceremony was attended by Joko Budiono from BHP Billiton; Kholid Indarto representing the Head of BKSDA; our government Partner; Program Manager, Anton Nurcahyo; Bukit Batu district government officials; leaders of local and Dayak communities Epep T Rawai; Mantir Adat, Desel Inga; and other local community leaders.
This enclosure is instrumental in moving forward with our orangutan reintroduction program and we are extremely grateful to our donor, BHP Billiton, our government partners and the Dyak communities for enabling us to realize this wonderful facility.
Our PRM team in the Hiran watershed of TNBBBR conducts phenology surveys and unexpectedly encountered Svenja.
Orangutan Day is celebrated every year on August 19th!
Every kid gets bored at school now and then, dreaming of escape but rarely daring to try. However, there's always that one brave soul who takes the plunge. Such was the case at the Nyaru Menteng Forest School one sunny morning.
