Forest Chatter March 2016

Issue 15 | March 2016 BOS Australia | + 61 2 9011 5455 | PO Box 3916 Mosman NSW 2088 From the President… Last newsletter we shared our plans organisations in Indonesia. BOS orangutans are relocated to other for completing some major projects Australia was a major sponsor of habitats rather than being brought in Borneo and I am delighted to the course. into our care centres. report that they have gone well. At the same time Lou and Janet Last quarter BOS Indonesia The Special Care Unit is now hosted 4 volunteers who visited relocated 48 orangutans. It appears complete and hopefully our 50 non- Samboja to help with enrichment that there may be many more this releasable orangutans will soon move projects and have some rewarding quarter. The problem of course is in. Tom Bertinshaw, a seasoned orangutan encounters. More finding suitable new habitat but this project management expert and about how you can be experience rescue and release method avoids new BOSA volunteer, spent a few this amazing program inside this the Orangutans spending time in weeks in Samboja supervising the newsletter. enclosures. We sometimes feature complicated construction of the The impact of the devastating relocation stories on Facebook and waste management wetlands, with forest fires last year has resulted in it is always heartwarming news to considerable remote assistance an increase in affected orangutans see the orangutans rescued from from the team back in Australia. arriving at our care centres. Our next dangerous areas and moved into We are just waiting for rain to fill project is completion of the baby safer territory. the tanks and bores, so we have a house and we are appreciative of all Once again it is my pleasure to thank regular water supply and can then who donated to this project before each of you for your contribution to commission the system. Christmas. We still need funding to orangutan and habitat protection. VP Lou Grossfeldt and committee complete this project, so as always We understand that everyone has member Janet Lackey have just any further donation, no matter how a different capacity to help, but we completed an extended visit where small, is valuable. assure you that every one of your they, along with US-based expert One of the least reported parts contributions is gratefully accepted. Valarie Hare, conducted a series of our work in Indonesia is the Tony Gilding of hands-on courses for 40 BOS relocations, where displaced President Indonesia staff and other orangutan

New Year Goals

Are you tired of making New Year’s resolutions only to quit them by March? Fed-up of announcing grand plans only to have them fall by the wayside before you’ve achieved them? This year, why not do something different. This year why not help others meet your resolutions? • Help an orangutan spend more time with family and friends, by hanging out in forest school. • Teach an orangutan to climb a tree and get fit for summer. • Help fund fire-fighting measures and make the Indonesian forests quit smoking. • Teach an orangutan to make its bed and learn a new skill. An ongoing tax-deductible donation to BOS Australia will help do all these things and more. http://bit.ly/1NKyBr0 Let us help you reach your goals in 2016.

www.orangutans.com.au Volunteer and Make a Difference

experience) and Janet Lackey, Why enrichment? primate keeper at Taronga Zoo. BOS Australia not only rescues, Applications for the February 2016 rehabilitates and returns home trip have closed. However, we endangered orangutans, but also anticipate running a similar volunteer cares for over 100 orangutans program in November 2016 and who, through injury or disability, February 2017. Join us for either a will never know their forest homes short, 6-day visit, or volunteer with us again. for 2 weeks. Orangutan sightings are These non-releasable animals are guaranteed for both visits. confined to an island or enclosure Volunteers on the 2-week visit, who for the rest of their lives. We have all the required vaccinations, believe it is our duty to give these are also allowed access to the Forest orangutans the best possible School. This is a unique experience lives we can. Highly intelligent not normally available to visitors If you’ve always wanted to go to and inquisitive by nature, keeping and is only available during the time Borneo and see the orangutans, orangutans interested and when Lou/Janet are at Samboja BOS Australia offers you the entertained is no simple task. Lestari. opportunity of a lifetime. Enrichment is a vital part of a Limited spaces are available so fulfilling and stimulating life for a Not only do you get to travel to don’t delay. If you haven’t already captive orangutan. The program Borneo and stay at the Samboja done so, send us your expression stimulates intelligence and Lestari Lodge, but you also get to of interest today, for November provides various foods in novel work on the ongoing behavioural 2016 or February 2017, to avoid ways to ensure the orangutans enrichment project. The enrichment disappointment. are continuously learning and project makes a real difference to the occupied. lives of orangutans that cannot be Further details are on the BOSA released. website: http://bit.ly/1PrEyi1 Enrichment programs are also vital for releasable orangutans as During the February 2016 trip, Read a first-hand account of a they teach them how to forage for volunteers worked alongside BOS trip to Samboja Lestari by BOSA food, build, modify and use tools, Australia VP Lou Grossfeldt (a Administrator, Emma Dunphy: increase agility and develop skills primate keeper with over 25 years http://bit.ly/1POyJgH to survive in the wild.

Thanks to a sizable donation from Special Care Unit Complete BOS Switzerland, the construction of a Special Care Unit (SCU) at Samboja Lestari in East Kalimatan is now complete. We’re just adding the finishing touches, and then the unit will be ready for operation. It has a capacity to house 50 orangutans. BOS Australia provided support to fund a special wastewater management system in the Unit to ensure the welfare of the orangutans. The non-releasable orangutans will be transferred from their existing enclosure to the new SCU immediately. Home for the Holidays

In spite of all the distressing stories the river. It took almost an hour to get coming out of Indonesia at the end all four cages to the river bank. From of last year, BOS Foundation and here the Kehje Sewen release team BOS Australia continue to fund and took over and transported the cages support many good news stories. safely across the river. A steep climb Just before Christmas, BOS was waiting for the team on the other side of the river and once at the top, Foundation released four more another two pick-up trucks transported orangutans to their natural habitat in the cages to the release points in the Kehje Sewen Forest, East Kalimantan. southern part of Kehje Sewen. Slippery Since 2012, the BOS Foundation trails, as the result of heavy rain the Samboja Lestari Program has returned night before, made the going tough 40 orangutans to the forest. and it took another two hours to reach The two males (Hanung and Joni) the release points. and two females (Bungan and Teresa) All four orangutans climbed high travelled for 20 hours overland into the nearest tree once released. to the release site. BOSF vets Bungan even had time to stop and eat and technicians were on hand to the ripe fruit of the Macaranga tree. continuously check and monitor the After release, the post-release orangutans during the long and at monitoring (PRM) team took over. times difficult journey. Two PRM technicians follow and At Samboja Lestari, the orangutans monitor each orangutan. They observe were first sedated and then loaded and record data on the orangutans’ into their individual transport cages. activities each and every day until they They then travelled by large truck to are assessed to have adapted well to Maura Wahau, the last town before their new forest home. Kehje Sewen Forest. Four hours later the team stopped to switch to It’s nearly two months since their smaller pick-up trucks because the release, and we are delighted to report road is impassable by large trucks. that all four orangutans have embraced The orangutans were transferred their new lives and are all doing very to smaller, easier to carry transport well. They are clearly enjoying their cages at this point to facilitate the freedom; foraging, making nests, last part of the journey. eating wild foods and socialising without fear of conflict with humans. After another hour the pick-up trucks reached the end of the road, 300 Read more about the release metres from the Telen River. The and their progress at: transport cages had to be carried http://bit.ly/1Q5trrd down a very steep trail to the bank of http://bit.ly/1Ps05ar

www.orangutans.com.au Home Sweet Home

One of the flow-on effects of the Each building is self-contained with for release back into their forest devastating fires across Indonesia is new kitchen and bathroom facilities, home where they belong. the increase in orphaned orangutans bedrooms for when we need one- Please help us to help them. arriving at our facilities. on-one care with new or sick babies, Please donate today, every little Sadly our current baby house is not and attaching outdoor sleeping enclosures for older orangutans. bit helps; our target is $25,000 and big enough to cater for this influx of we’re over half way there. traumatised infants. We now have 22 Our babies stay with us for up baby orangutans in our care; with six to 7 years. This new home will Help us to create a home where they rescued in the last few weeks. Our help turn traumatised babies into can thrive. nursery is now full. We desperately healthy, happy and confident young http://bit.ly/1PK4mBO need funds to build a new Baby orangutans, where they can learn and House so we can accommodate grow and ultimately be made ready these and the many more that will continue to arrive as the weeks and months pass. Planning is well under way and the designs have already been completed. This new impressive facility will include outdoor forest schools and indoor play areas so that even when it is raining, our babies can continue to learn and play. We have designed two separate buildings; one for healthy babies who have completed their health screening and one for incoming babies who need to be quarantined before they can join the rest of the orphans.

We Love Hearing From You We know you’ve been spreading the orangutan word, so why not tell us about what you’re up to? Email [email protected] or post your photos online at facebook.com/bosaustralia or instagram/bosaustralia Can You Help Us? Your donations provide food, shelter, protection, medicine and companionship Borneo Orangutan Survival Australia for orangutans in our care. Visit www.orangutans.com.au to help us help them. + 61 2 9011 5455 PO Box 3916 Donations by cheque are payable to Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Mosman NSW 2088 Australia at PO Box 3916, Mosman NSW 2088. facebook.com/bosaustralia instagram.com/bosaustralia Make a one-off or regular payment via direct debit or by credit card either pay pal Our newsletter is proudly written and online or by calling us on (02) 9011 5455. We now accept donations produced by BOS Australia volunteers. too! See the link on the homepage of our website. All images © BOS 2015 Save paper and the environment and opt-in to receive our e-letter via email. Thank you for your continued support. at [email protected]