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Fri, May 25, 2012
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Keen to Adopt an Orangutan? Now You Can... Sort Of
Fidelis E. Satriastanti | January 16, 2012

A three-month-old Orangutan baby (Pongo Pygmaeus Mario) peeks out from inside a wooden box in East Kutai, East Kalimantan province, on Friday after being rescued after being separated from its mother. Experts say there are about 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans left in the wild, 80 percent of them in Indonesia and the rest in Malaysia. (AFP Photo/Firman) A three-month-old Orangutan baby (Pongo Pygmaeus Mario) peeks out from inside a wooden box in East Kutai, East Kalimantan province, on Friday after being rescued after being separated from its mother. Experts say there are about 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans left in the wild, 80 percent of them in Indonesia and the rest in Malaysia. (AFP Photo/Firman)
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Sambodja Lestari, East Kalimantan. Keeping an orangutan as a pet is absolutely illegal, but there is another way to feel a connection with the threatened apes: through an “adoption” program.

“We at Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation have developed an orangutan adoption scheme. Via our Web site, sponsors can choose the orangutan they wish to support,” explained Jamartin Sihite, head of BOSF, as he hosted a tour of the organization’s baby orangutan clinic at Sambodja Lestari.

Jamartin said adoption could be done by individuals or groups.

“What we call Prime Adoption costs Rp 1.4 million [$160] per year, but most people have trouble coming up with that much up front. So we now offer a three-monthly payment of Rp 350,000, which is a little easier,” he said. “We also offer shared adoption, so one orangutan can be adopted by a group. We’re currently promoting the quarterly payment scheme — after all it’s better than wasting your money at the mall.”

Sponsors receive an adoption certificate, a photo of their chosen individual, information on its background and updates at least every six months.

The minimum adoption period is one year, but the organization hopes people will wish to sponsor their orangutan until it is rehabilitated and released back into the wild.

“So, if people don’t wish to continue the sponsorship, well, that’s OK. We can’t force them to renew,” Jamartin said.

There are 850 orangutans in BOSF rehabilitation centers — 650 at Sambodja Lestari and 200 at Nyaru Menteng in Central Kalimantan.

The donations are used to help pay for the costs of food and medicine for the orangutans. The organization needs $3,500 per orangutan per year.

“That’s not including any costs for special medical treatment if they become seriously ill,” explained Aschta Boestani Tajudin, BOSF’s East Kalimantan program manager.

“This is one reason why orangutans should never be kept as pets,” she said. “They will learn human behavior and mimic us. It’s very difficult to rehabilitate them, it costs a lot and takes a long time.”

Transporting the animals by helicopter to remote forest areas for release also costs a small fortune, with each trip taking several hours at around Rp 60 million per hour.

And as BOSF founder Bungaran Saragih has noted, Kalimantan’s native forests are fast disappearing. The high-biodiversity orangutan habitat can’t be replaced simply by planting a handful of tree species.

“If one trillion trees are planted, it’s not going to be a forest. We need forests, not trees.”