Orangutans On Tour

Great ape experts call on Australia’s help.

A world-leading Orangutan expert will fly into Australia next month in a bid to garner the nation’s support for what they say is a critical and urgent fight to save the great apes from extinction.

Key local and international figures from eminent Animal welfare organisation, Borneo Orangutan
Survival Foundation (BOS) will be giving talks around Australia about the orangutan’s plight while
reporting on the Foundations recent success with its Orangutan “school”.

The not for profit will this month release an additional two rehabilitated, endangered orangutans
back into protected Bornean rainforest as part of its world-first, large-scale reintroduction of
rehabilitated orangutans into the wild.

Lito, a 25-year-old female and Laila, a 23-year-old female, will join 392 of their fellow primates as
graduates of BOS’ landmark ‘Forest School’ initiative, which sees orphaned, displaced and injured
orangutans lovingly reared by humans and systematically taught the life skills necessary to be self sufficient in the wild.

The largest and arguably most successful great ape conservation program in the world, BOS’ “rehab and release” program has forged a major breakthrough in the fight to save the endangered orangutans of Borneo. These great apes will be extinct in less than ten years if the trend in deforestation for logging, mining, palm oil plantations, settlements and cash crops continue.Trying
to fight against this threat, the Forest School has hundreds of orangutans in various stages of ‘education’, with many already eligible for release.

As part of an ongoing and urgent effort to raise the funds to release a further 400 orangutans, BOS Australia is hosting a three-city series of events, ‘Orangutans on Tour’, this August, featuring Anton Nurcahyo, one of the world’s primary orangutan conservation experts and Lou Grossfeldt, a renowned specialist in captive orangutan management and welfare.

“While our program has been hugely successful, the battle to save the orangutans is far from over,”
said Nurcahyo, who has spent his life researching and understanding orangutans and who, as
part of his PhD, was an integral part of the team that discovered a brand new species of orangutan
in 2017.

“Running the largest great ape reintroduction program in the world is extremely challenging, with
literally hundreds of people and thousands of dollars required for each individual release. There
are also thousands of hectares of forest to look after he said.

“The journey for each orangutan back into the wild—including airlifting each primate to the release
site in an effort to minimise the trauma of their relocation—encompasses a ticket price of AU
$9,450,” said Nurcahyo. “Not to mention the urgent need to acquire additional land that we can
secure as protected wilderness, ensuring that future released orangutans will be safe from human
development, poaching and farming.”

“The public lectures will serve as an opportunity to educate Australians about the plight of the
orangutans, with all proceeds from the ticket cost going directly to the Borneo Orangutan Survival
Release Fund,” said BOS Australia President, Tony Gilding. “We rely exclusively on donations to
continue to protect injured, abused or tortured orangutans by providing medical treatment, attentive
care and meticulous training to prepare them for a life of freedom, and we are calling on the
Australian public to provide support, while there is still time to make a difference,” he said.

To purchase a ticket, make a donation or adopt an orangutan, visit the BOS Australia website.