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Orangutan with 74 pellets in her body in recovery
A female orangutan found with 74 air rifle pellets in her body in Aceh province earlier this month is recovering although she is blind and has to spend the rest of her life in captivity
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span>A female orangutan found with 74 air rifle pellets in her body in Aceh province earlier this month is recovering although she is blind and has to spend the rest of her life in captivity.
After undergoing a procedure on March 12 in which the vets took out seven pellets, and bone surgery on Mar. 18, her recovery might need another six months and afterward she still has to undergo more surgery to take out the remaining pellets from her body. The bone surgery was to repair her collar bone and air sac, which were ruptured by the pellets.
Suryadi, the communications officer of Lestari Ecosystem Foundation and PanEco Foundation — Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program (YEL-SOCP), told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the orangutan was now in an intensive care pen in SOCP quarantine and rehabilitation center in Sibolangit in Deli Serdang regency, North Sumatra.
“It was a big operation, so it might take 6 months for her to recover. However, she is now totally blind so it is impossible for her to return to the wild even if she can fully recover from the wounds,” Suryadi said.
The orangutan and her 1-month-old baby were found in a critical condition on March 10 by a team from the Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) and the Orangutan Information Center (OIC).
“When she was found, she was already blind,” Suryadi said.
The orangutan, named Hope by the rescue team, was then taken to the rehabilitation center to get her wounds treated and have the pellets taken out.
“We could only take out seven pellets, including three from her eyes. The remaining ones have to wait until her body is stronger,” Suryadi said.
Hope, who is estimated to be 30 years old, survived the wounds and the operations, but her baby died of malnutrition.
According to a statement released by YEL-SOCP in coordination with BKSDA North Sumatra on March 18, Hope will spend her life in Orangutan Haven, a rehabilitation center that is currently under construction, to ensure her well-being.
“The quarantine and rehabilitation of the orangutans enables us to intensely supervise the orangutans' health, as well as rehabilitate them physically and psychologically,” YEL-SOCP supervisor vet, Citrakasih Nente, said in the release.
Now Hope is under the care of YEL-SOCP and the BKSDA North Sumatra.
Besides Hope, YEL-SOCP is now also taking care of a 3-month-old orangutan named Brenda that was rescued last week by an Indonesian Military (TNI) soldier from a field in South West Aceh. Brenda had a broken bone in her left arm.
There are only around 13,500 Sumatran orangutans and fewer than 800 Tapanuli orangutans in the wild, and both species are labeled critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Suryadi said that besides Hope, four other orangutans would stay at Orangutan Haven as they had sustained injuries that prevented them from coming back to the wild.
“There will be nine ‘islands’ for the orangutans. We plan to launch [the facility] by the end of the year,” Suryadi said.
Nine artificial islands measuring between 600 and 800 square meters are being prepared by the SOCP in Orangutan Haven, purportedly the first such facility in the world.
The 48-hectare facility in Sibolangit is expected to provide improved living conditions for disabled and unreleasable primates.
