PRESS RELEASE  ON VALENTINE’S DAY 2013 NYARU MENTENG RELEASES 20 ORANGUTANS

Building on previous success in releasing 44 Central Kalimantan orangutans during 2012 and in commemoration of Valentine’s Day 2013, the Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation releases a further 20 orangutans from Nyaru Menteng as a tribute of love and dedication for the continuing conservation efforts of orangutans and their habitat.

Nyaru Menteng, Central Kalimantan, February 13, 2013. On February 13, 14, and 15, 2013, five semi-wild and 15 rehabilitated orangutans depart from the Central Kalimantan Orangutan Reintroduction Program at Nyaru Menteng to pre-selected release points in Bukit Batikap Conservation Forest.

In addition to continuing last year’s release efforts and also observing Valentine’s Day, this forms part of the efforts to meet the targets of the Indonesian Orangutan Action Plan and Conservation Strategy 2007- 2017, launched by the president of the Republic of Indonesia during the Climate Change Conference in Bali, 2007, which states that all orangutans in rehabilitation centers should be released by 2015.

During 2012, the BOS Foundation released 44 orangutans into Central Kalimantan and aims to release a further 80-100 orangutans here by the end of 2013, contributing to the effort to meet these targets.

This is the BOS Foundation’s second release of wild born ex-captive rehabilitated orangutans in Central Kalimantan. Rehabilitated orangutans or rehabilitants are orangutans who were rescued at a very young age and/or had been kept by humans as pets. These orangutans did not have or had lost most of the necessary skills to survive independently in the forest and thus must go through an intensive rehabilitation process. All of the rehabilitants released during this activity have completed the entire rehabilitation process up to the pre-release phase on our pre-release islands, Kaja and Bangamat Islands.
 
Due to the high number of orangutans to be released during this event, some of the orangutans will spend two nights within our existing transit enclosure located in the compound of PT. Indo Muro Kencana in Puruk Cahu before being transported by helicopter to Bukit Batikap Conservation Forest.

Anton Nurcahyo, the Manager of the BOS Foundation Central Kalimantan Orangutan Reintroduction Program at Nyaru Menteng said, “Each orangutan release is a great achievement which is the culmination of a long process of rehabilitation which we put all of our hearts and souls into. It is the result of the cooperation of many parties. Of course we still conduct a post-release process to ensure adaptation success, but we are moving one step further towards orangutan conservation targets and nature sustainability.”

The success of orangutan conservation heavily relies on support from various parties, which include the government, society, and the private sector. Therefore the BOS Foundation, dedicated to the establishment and preservation of orangutans and their habitat, works with the government of Indonesia at all levels.

At the provincial level, the BOS Foundation collaborates with the Provincial Government of Central Kalimantan as outlined in their Cooperation Agreement, effective since December 31, 2009, on orangutan and habitat conservation in Central Kalimantan. The current agreement also covers the  working area of the BOS Foundation throughout the Central Kalimantan province as a whole.

According to the Chief of the Central Kalimantan Conservation and Natural Resources Authority (BKSDA), Ir. Kholid Indarto, “With the remaining high number of orangutans within the Central Kalimantan Reintroduction Program at Nyaru Menteng, the renewal of the agreement between the BOS Foundation and the Provincial Government of Central Kalimantan is a crucial point in ensuring ongoing developments towards the effort to preserve orangutans and their habitat. We will always work together, striving to protect orangutans and our forest.”