The 28-year-old male is a potential candidate for a spot on a sanctuary island. He was diagnosed with airsacculitis and can’t be released into the wild.
The BOSA Foundation team confiscated Alfa from a resident of Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, on December 17, 1999. At that time, the male was 3-3.5 years old and weighed 10 kilograms.
In 2009, Alfa, like all orangutans undergoing rehabilitation at a BOSF facility, was moved to a pre-release island to prove he had the skills to survive in the wild. However, he was unable to pass this critical test.
Despite living on Kaja Island for three years, he could never improve his survival skills. When he was taken into the centre for a veterinary exam in 2012, he was diagnosed with airsacculitis, a disease that could be deadly in orangutans if left untreated.
Treatment did prove successful, and now over a decade later, 28-year-old Alfa is not a suitable candidate to live again on a pre-release island. Therefore, a sanctuary island is the best solution for him so that he can live a cage-free, semi-wild life.
Please support our Sanctuary Island Appeal to give unreleasable orangutans like Alfa a chance to live a cage-free life in an environment as close to the wild as possible.
