While one of our teams was busy transporting four orangutans back to the wild recently, we also released four graduated forest school students to a pre-release island in the Salat Island Cluster. Pre-release islands are like universities, where graduates hone their survival skills. Please meet Jessy, Jengyos, Happy and Kapuan.
Jessy was rescued by a joint team from the Central Kalimantan BKSDA’s wildlife rescue unit and the BOS Foundation’s Nyaru Menteng Rehabilitation Centre on September 30, 2018.
A resident of Pulang Pisau, Central Kalimantan, had kept her for four years, and when she arrived at our rehabilitation centre, Jessy was six years old and weighed 13 kilograms.
After passing the quarantine period, Jessy joined forest school to learn the skills needed to survive the wild. Jessy is known to have a gentle personality and to get along easily with other orangutans. However, when it comes to humans, Jessy can be quite indifferent.
After completing forest school, 10-year-old Jessy is ready to hone her survival skills on a pre-release island in the Salat Island Cluster.
Jengyos was rescued on September 19, 2016 from Petak Bahandang Village, Katingan Regency, Central Kalimantan. At that time, orphaned Jengyos was just one year old and weighed 2.5 kilograms.
After completing her mandatory quarantine, Jengyos started “studying” together with other orangutans in forest school, where they took part in countless survival lessons. By the time Jengyos completed forest school, she had shown she was a very curious, very social orangutan who did not rely on humans. She is not aggressive, but recently she has started to defend herself if provoked by other orangutans.
Now Jengyos is seven years old, and she has the opportunity to hone her survival skills in the Salat Island Cluster.
Happy was rescued from a resident of Paranggean, East Kotawaringin, Central Kalimantan, on July 24, 2010. When he arrived at our centre, he was just two years old, weighed only four kilograms, and was in poor physical condition. It was reported that his mother had died after drinking poisoned water in the resident’s garden.
Back at the BOS Foundation’s rehabilitation centre, Happy completed the quarantine period and joined forest school. Over the years, Happy grew increasingly independent as he spent most of his time up in the trees. When he isn’t busy exploring a new forest area, he easily gets along with his orangutan peers.
Twelve years later, Happy is now ready to put his survival skills to the test and prove he has what it takes to live on a pre-release island.
Kapuan was repatriated from captivity in Thailand. At her rescue, Kapuan was six years old and weighed 22 kilograms. She arrived at the BOS Foundation’s Nyaru Menteng Rehabilitation Centre on November 22, 2006.
We had previously moved Kapuan to live in the Salat Island Cluster on June 26, 2019. However, she had to be sent back to the Nyaru Menteng clinic on February 18, 2020, when she was diagnosed with a respiratory disease called airsaculitis. Before her medical treatment, Kapuan was known as a gentle orangutan who easily got along with other orangutans.
After receiving treatment from the veterinary team, Kapuan is now healthy and ready to explore a pre-release island again. At 23 years, she will have a second chance to prove herself as a truly wild orangutan.
Keep learning and thriving, you four! We can’t wait to release you to your wild home one day.
Let’s get more orangutans to ‘university’ and ultimately back to the wild together!
Please donate to our orangutan release programs now!
