A Public Statement from Lone Droscher-Nielsen

7 October 2011

Due to recent speculation and untrue statements regarding my continued involvement in orangutan conservation I have decided to release this public statement.

I remain employed both by BOS Foundation and Red Orangutangen (Save the Orangutan). I am presently on sick leave due to severe exhaustion but will return to Indonesia when my doctors permit me to do so.

In the meantime I continue to raise funds for Nyaru Menteng and am presently the main funder of activities at Nyaru Menteng , through the organisation I founded in Denmark in 2003 (now named Red Orangutangen) covering all the operational costs.

Over the last ten years, I have accumulated a fantastic team of wonderful, dedicated people at Nyaru Menteng and I have 100% confidence in them managing the project and caring for the orang-utans to the highest international standards put in place throughout the years; while I continue to scrutinise all financial matters and important decisions made at the project.

The over 600 orangutans currently  in our care, as well as  all the wild orangutans which we have rescued and relocated (over 400) have all been rescued or confiscated by the dedicated team at Nyaru Menteng, only in co-operation with the local forestry police (BKSDA). On a few occasions COP (Center for Orangutan Protection) was involved in confiscations and rescues from south-west Kalimantan. I do not recall any other individual being involved in these confiscations or rescues, other than on very few occasions (usually film-makers).

I am very concerned about all this mud-slinging and untrue statements on public domains. It only results in the public losing trust in all orangutan conservation organisations and therefore decreased funding  overall for the conservation efforts.

Untrue statements and stories about me and the BOS Foundation (and other organisations supporting BOS Foundation) have unfortunately resulted in loss of confidence from supporters and therefore loss of essential funding. I still have hopes that all orangutan conservation groups can co-exist in harmony and work together for our common goal. However recent events give me grave concerns that this may not be possible.

Nyaru Menteng at the moment has over 600 orangutans in its care and we are only just managing to raise funds for the daily operational costs. We were hoping to release the very first of the rehabilitated orangutans towards the end of this year, but as we keep on losing trust and thereby lifesaving funding, due to the untrue stories being put out publicly (sometimes causing  rerouting of funds to other causes), we will most likely have to postpone these releases  yet again.

I would like to end this statement by saying a huge thank you to those of you who have trusted and supported Nyaru Menteng for so many years; we truly could not have done it without you. And I hope you will continue to put your trust in us in the future, simply put, because we need you now more than ever.

I think Darwin had it all backwards. There is no way that something as beautiful and innocent as an orangutan, could ever have evolved into man.

Kindest Regards,

Lone Droscher-Nielsen