Breaking News from our rescue project in Borneo

Inka, the latest victim of rainforest destruction, finds sanctuary at Nyaru Menteng in the care of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation

Every time another orphan arrives at the sanctuary, we take solace in the fact that this child of the rainforest has a second chance at knowing life in the wild. And then it comes to mind of the trauma the young one has experienced, clinging to the body of its dying mother. Such is the mixture of hope and despair that we come to accept with every new arrival…

Meet the newest addition to the growing family of orangutans at the BOS rescue and rehabilitation centre – her name is Inka.

This little soul is a victim of the continuing destruction of the rainforests in Borneo. Looking into her eyes, it is difficult to comprehend such innocence suffering at the hands of humans. Her mother was killed whilst searching for food in an oil-palm plantation – often the only source of food for desperate orangutans once their natural habitat has been destroyed to meet the demand for palm oil. Orangutan babies are much in demand as pets, so Inka was sold into the illegal pet trade, where news of her plight reached Frans, one of the carers at Nyaru Menteng.

Frans was visiting his family in Bereng Jun village, when he heard about the baby orangutan, which was being kept by a local family. Frans went to visit this family, and told them about the critical situation of orangutans in the wild, how their numbers are rapidly declining, and how endangered the species is. He was successful in persuading them that Inka would have a much better life being reared by professional carers at Nyaru Menteng, and how, ultimately, she could be returned to a life in the wild, to be free once again, and to help preserve her species from extinction.

Inka is about a year to 18 months old and weighed only 5.5 lbs when she arrived at Nyaru Menteng just a few days ago. In the wild, she’d have clung to her mother nearly all the time, being shown what she could eat, what she should fear, and how to climb trees. But she is far too young to be able to survive on her own.

At Nyaru Menteng, baby Inka is cared for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by a team of babysitters, who have taken on the role of her mother. They are teaching her to recognize edible fruits and leaves in the forest, they will encourage her to climb trees, and show her how to avoid snakes and other dangerous creatures. Most of all, though, they will provide what she needs most of all – as much love as they can give her. One of the babysitters, Tris, says of Inka: “She is very small and skinny; only her teeth tell us her true age. She cries a lot at night, but this will pass. Since she came here, she has been eating a lot of fruits, and especially likes rambutans, so we hope that she will put on some weight soon. Inka also loves to climb, but she is still too tiny to join other orangutans in their play groups.”

We’re sure that it won’t be long before Inka is able to join a group of other young orangutans on their daily excursions to Forest School, and in the afternoon rough and tumble on the lawns of Nyaru Menteng.

Inka – Wrapped up warm and safe now

Photos by Rita Sastrawan (BOS International)

You can help Inka and the 800 orangutans currently being cared for by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation by donating online.

Adopting an Orangutan will also help us help them.

Borneo Orangutan Survival is dedicated to saving the orangutan from extinction and protecting its rainforest home. BOS is responsible for the rescue and rehabilitation of hundreds of wild and orphaned orangutans. Orangutan Outreach is the official fundraiser for BOS in the United States. BOS relies entirely on donations to continue our work and achieve our goal – to rehabilitate and prepare these orangutans for a life in the wild and ultimately return them to their wild rainforest home. With your help, we can show everyone that this beautiful part of the world and its red-haired inhabitants are an invaluable part of the world we share.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 11:55 am and is filed under News & Updates, Voices from the field. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.