Orangutans and Covid-19

Aiko and her caregiver at BOS Nyaru Menteng.

Latest update: July 27, 2021

We are saddened to report the Covid crisis in Indonesia has gone from bad to worse... to catastrophic. Covid–19 cases and deaths have reached shocking numbers. The highly infectious Delta variant is now taking over the country, of which only 7% of the population is fully vaccinated.

Reports of more than 40,000 new cases for three days straight are heartbreaking. The reality is that the actual number of cases is much higher than reported or even known. Even more sobering is that this week, Indonesia reported more than 2,000 daily fatalities for the first time since the outbreak.

As the Covid-19 deaths rise sharply in Indonesia, Orangutan Outreach remains committed to helping our partners get through this awful situation. We will do everything we can to keep all our colleagues, and the orangutans they care for, safe from this relentless virus.

As we continue to work together to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, we offer our sympathies to those of you who have already been affected by the virus.

Orangutan Outreach has created a new emergency Covid-19 relief fund to help our partners in the field get through this difficult period.

The following was reported in the Wall Street Journal on July 27, 2021:

"The death toll in Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation, has been increasing dramatically throughout July, with Covid-19 wards full and patients struggling to access ventilators and proper care.

Like the U.S. and other countries in Europe and Asia, Indonesia is facing a resurgence of the virus driven by the Delta variant, but unlike many developed countries it has sparse vaccine coverage. About 7% of the country’s population is fully vaccinated.

Scenes from the country resemble India during the worst of its spring surge in cases, as Indonesians line up for scarce oxygen supplies and whole families, including healthy young people, get seriously ill. By late July, Indonesia’s seven-day average of daily recorded deaths reached five deaths per million people, 67% higher than India’s during its peak in late May, according to Our World in Data, a project based at the University of Oxford. Epidemiologists believe that both countries have severely undercounted Covid-19 deaths, in part because many patients are dying at home without being tested for Covid-19."

With this upsetting news, Orangutan Outreach has reaffirmed our commitment of support and has begun another Covid Relief appeal. We ask that you please support our efforts to assure that our Indonesian partners can continue to source all the supplies needed to protect themselves and the orangutans from this virus, as well as have the funds to provide proper food, milk, enrichment, and medical care to the hundreds of orangutans in their care centers, with limited exposure and special health protection measures in place for the animal carers.

Critical supplies of medicines, disinfectant, soap, face masks, gloves and other PPE, which are vital to control zoonotic disease transmission, are becoming harder to source, as is the huge quantity of food needed to feed the orangutans. And prices are rising as demand grows.

The orangutans being cared for at the rescue centers depend on us for everything... and they need your help.

In this unprecedented time, we know that many people are facing financial difficulties, but if you are able, the orangutans desperately need your help.

Thank you – from the bottom of our hearts – for your continued compassion and caring during this difficult time.

100% of donations made to the 2021 Covid-19 Fund will be sent to the care centers for the orangutans. 

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