M.O.M. – Missing Orangutan Mothers

The 2024 M.O.M. banner features orphaned orangutan Baimah. She is cared for by Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) at their Samboja Lestari orangutan center in East Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). Baimah arrived at Samboja Lestari in September 2022 when she was just 18 months old. The villager who had kept Baimah as a pet said she had found the infant without a mother when she went to work in the fields. Baimah had been fed an unhealthy diet and was dressed like a human child. Sweet Baimah came into care overweight, which affected her ability to breathe through her nose. The scared little orangutan was placed in the nursery and given proper medical care and much needed love. Baimah was put on a healthy diet and quickly lost weight & became much more active. Upon starting Forest School her caretakers were in awe of Baimah's boldness in climbing trees and her progress in socializing with other baby orangutans.

Baimah is now 3 years old and she lives in the Baby House alongside three other orangutans. This darling girl has undergone many positive changes since arriving at the rehabilitation center. Baimah is independent and she even has the courage to climb trees that are 20-25 meters high! Baimah is also learning to build sleeping nests and forage for food. All this is completed under the guidance of human caregivers, since Baimah and the other babies at the center have Missing Orangutan Mothers. Thank you for helping bring attention to Baimah's story.

You can support Baimah’s rehabilitation journey with a virtual adoption for USD $15/month (or USD $150/year).

PLEASE MAKE A DONATION TO SUPPORT ORPHANS LIKE BAIMAH

*All donations made from this page will be allocated to the BOS Foundation to support their ongoing orangutan conservation work in Borneo, Indonesia

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What is the M.O.M. Campaign?

Mother's Day is the perfect day to celebrate and pay tribute to orangutan mothers. The M.O.M. – Missing Orangutan Mothers Campaign is our way of doing precisely that! The M.O.M. Campaign is a positive way to bring attention to the crisis facing these beautiful red apes by encouraging people to help protect them.

Orangutan mothers and babies have an incredibly close relationship. Baby orangutans don't have a support network around to give them the many lessons of finding food, building nests and other survival skills. Their mothers teach them everything about survival in the forest before they set out on their own. Because of the growing demand for palm oil, though, more and more orangutan mothers are being killed every year on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.

The orangutans' rainforest home is literally being wiped out to make way for oil palm plantations— leaving hundreds of helpless orangutans with nowhere to go. Some of the lucky ones end up at rescue and rehabilitation centers and are cared for by a trained, professional staff. Orangutan Outreach works with professional organizations such as the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP), the Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation and International Animal Rescue (IAR) to care for nearly 1,000 orphaned and displaced orangutans until they can be returned to the forest! That's a lot of missing orangutan mothers!

This Mother's Day, we are asking zoos, sanctuaries, animal facilities, groups and INDIVIDUALS WHO LOVE ORANGUTANS all around the world to participate in our M.O.M. Campaign and hold their own virtual events to raise awareness of the increasing number of orphaned orangutans in need of support.

Join the M.O.M. Campaign!

We realize that in-person events still may not be possible this year for some organizations. The good news is that MOM events can be held in-person or virtually! If you'd like to join the campaign, please let us know. We will do our best to help you in every way possible!

We want to stress that this is not specifically a fundraising campaign. The goal is to raise awareness that orangutans have been pushed to the brink of extinction in the wild and that if we don't act now to save them, they will be extinct in less than a decade. HOWEVER, if you choose to include a fundraiser in order to make a donation or adopt an orphaned orangutan through Orangutan Outreach, we would, of course, be thrilled. (We are a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. EIN: 26-0521285)

Why not raise funds to adopt an orangutan for your own institution or group? This is a great way to follow the life of an orangutan & stay involved with the tireless work being carried out at the rescue centers! You can adopt an orangutan here. Baimah, who is featured on our MOM2024 banner, can be symbolically adopted for just $15/month!

Guidelines - If you have a M.O.M. event, we ask that you please mention Orangutan Outreach and encourage your visitors to go to our website to learn more about orangutans and what can be done to help them.

Ways to Participate

Spread awareness
- Create social media posts in the week prior to Mother's Day, and blanket social media with posts on Mother’s Day Weekend
- Hold a FaceBook Live event!
- Feel free to download and post our MOM2024 Graphics
- Include these hashtags: #MOM #MOM2024 #MissingOrangutanMothers
- PLEASE direct people to redapes.org/mom to learn more or make a donation if they wish
Fundraise
- We realize it is a very challenging time to fundraise, but if you would like to hold a MOM2024 fundraiser during the month of May, you can set it up here: https://www.facebook.com/fund/OrangutanOutreach/
Information to share in posts or fundraiser
- Orangutans are solitary except for mothers with their offspring
- The orangutan mother-child relationship is very special and important
- Orangutan babies stay with their mother 8-10 years to learn all necessary survival skills
- Orangutan mothers are killed so that babies can be taken to be sold as illegal pets
- There are thousands of orphaned orangutans who have been rescued from the illegal pet trade
- The centers caring for the orphaned orangutans need support!
- PLEASE MENTION THAT M.O.M. IS A CAMPAIGN ORGANIZED BY ORANGUTAN OUTREACH!
- Please direct people to redapes.org/mom for more information
- Use hashtags: #MOM #MOM2024 #MissingOrangutanMothers

Share the MOM Campaign Banners on Social Media

Please feel free to download the MOM banner and add it to your social media pages. All we ask in return is that you link back to our M.O.M. campaign page in your posts so viewers can learn more about the campaign. If you would like the images in higher resolution or different sizes, please contact us.

Questions or Comments?

If you have any questions about the M.O.M. Campaign, please email our Outreach Coordinator Debbie Clemens.

Reach Out

Orangutan Outreach Facebook Page
Orangutan Outreach Facebook Group
Orangutan Outreach Social Media

Orangutan Action Packs (Free Downloadable Materials!)

Great for home schooling! We have photos, flyers, info sheets, posters, games, quizzes, pictures and adoption leaflets all at your disposal. The pictures alone will tell the whole story! Everything is yours to use as you see fit! All of these full color documents and banners are yours to download and use to help raise awareness of the crisis facing wild orangutans. We will be constantly updating this section, so keep checking back. Check out the ORANGUTAN ACTION PACKS
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MOM Tattoos

These amazing drawings by our artist-in-residence Alina Bachmann are designed to be tattoos.
They can be temporary or permanent. Contact us if you'd like high resolution files.