Orangutan translocations

This week is ‘Orangutan Caring Week’…so we thought we’d bring you some great news from our partners in Borneo!

We updated you last week on the saltwater crocodile project we’re supporting in Borneo, run by the Danau Girang Field Centre and Sabah Wildlife Department. These two organisations also work in close partnership with HUTAN, who we support via our Bornean Orangutan project.

Recently, an orangutan translocation and release was carried out by the three organisations. Two orangutans were released near Danau Girang within a few weeks of each other, a female followed by a male. Both animals were translocated from a small forest on a private land which was about to be cleared to make way for oil palm plantation. The NGO HUTAN and Sabah Wildlife Department were contacted by the land owner, and the Sabah Wildlife Rescue Unit captured the two orangutans and translocated them to an area of forest in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary close to the field centre.

This was a fantastic collaboration between the organisations. Check out the photos from the translocation below.