Denmark's Orangutan Rescuer
A few weeks back, DR 1 - a television station here in Denmark - showed a documentary about the vanishing orangutan. To be honest, I'd never really thought much about the plight of the orangutan but I haven't been able to stop thinking about this particular documentary.
It was about a Danish wonder woman, Lone D. Nielsen who runs an orangutan centre in Nyaru Menteng that provides refuge and sanctuary for the endangered species. Together with BOS (Borneo Orangutan Survival) she started the centre in Borneo in 1999. Today it's the world's largest of its kind with over 650 orangutan, many of them orphans.
The story of Lone and her work with the cuddly creatures started many years ago when she worked as an airline attendant for SAS. At that time she took a long vacation to Borneo where she fell in love with the orangutans. That's when she decided to take up the admirable, self sacrificing vocation of saving the orangutan.
Unfortunately, as the documentary showed it's not been a bed of roses. She says it's lonely and frustrating at times but at the same time rewarding. The most immediate problem is that she's running out of funds and the centre is filled to capacity and in danger of closing. The problem is multi-fold. The rain-forest in the area is being extinguished at an alarming rate forcing the orangutans into towns and villages where they are kept as pets, killed or treated poorly.
The philosophy behind Lone's orangutan centre is to take them in, nurture them and train the orangutans to function in the rain-forest. The problem besides dwindling funds is that when the orangutans are ready to be released into the wild there is not enough rain-forest available to them because the rain-forests are being destroyed to make in demand palm oil. That, mixed with natural disasters, poaching and illegal pet trade are all contributing factors to the orangutans rapid disappearance.
Orangutans come from Asia and are only found on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. Did you know that they share 97% of the same DNA as humans and that according to FN the wild orangutan will be abolished in just 15 years if something isn't done now? They are one of the world's most threatened species. So, it's important to slow down the destruction of the rain-forest and encourage new planting.
For more information in English visit http://www.savetheorangutan.co.uk to see how you can help by adopting an orangutan, donating money and avoid purchasing items that are feeding to the destruction of the rain-forests.
