TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Six rescued East Kutai orangutans released back to the wild
BOSF executive director Jamartin Sihite stated that Tuesday’s release marked the 27th orangutan release carried out by the organization since 2010.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Intelligent self care: A male Sumatran orangutan named Rakus is seen on Aug. 25, 2022, two months after wound self-treatment using a medicinal plant at the Suaq Balimbing research site, a protected rainforest area in Indonesia. Following the self-treatment, the facial wound below Rakus' right eye had become barely visible. Safruddin/Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES MANDATORY CREDIT (Reuters/Safruddin/Max Planck Institute o)
A
mid alarming reports of human-orangutan conflict driven by habitat loss in East Kutai, East Kalimantan, the Forestry Ministry and the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BSOF) have released six rescued and rehabilitated orangutans back into the wild.
The orangutans, evacuated from various areas of East Kutai, were released on Tuesday in Kehje Sewen Forest, an 86,450-hectare rainforest located within the same regency.
Managed by PT Restorasi Habitat Orangutan Indonesia (RHOI), a conservation organization established by the BSOF, the forest has been a key release site for rehabilitated orangutans since 2012.
The six orangutans endured a 20-hour journey from the BOSF’s Samboja Lestari Rehabilitation Center in Kutai Kartanegara Regency, East Kalimantan traveling by four-wheel drive and boat through challenging terrain to reach the forest.
Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni opened one of the cages containing a 10-year-old female orangutan named Mikhayla, who immediately climbed the nearest tree.
"I can't even describe my feelings," Raja said, tears welling in his eyes.
Discovered by authorities in January, Mikhayla was emaciated, weak and highly stressed, residing in a forest adjacent to the Trans Kalimantan Road, which connects East Kutai’s Sangatta district and the Bengalon district.
