I don't usually do this, but there is a bad situation in Indonesia that you can help with. I am copying, below, an email message from Nature Alert's Sean Whyte, who has been trying to convince the Borneo Orangutan Society (BOS) to rescue two orangutans in Kalimantan. His message follows. Dawn Sean asks you to send your emails to Aldrianto Priadjati, exec director of BOS, at [email protected], with a cc to [email protected] If you get a response (I haven't), please post it on this site.
Hi Dawn, Here is my response. I would thinnk that it seems more than adequate in his words. I dont belive he does not care at all. Seems like a great guy under allot of pressure trying to do his best. Dear Mr. Stuart R. Webster, I am very sorry for the delay in answering your enquiry. I am afraid right now it is impossible for BOS to help all the orangutans you mention. My heart sinks knowing the conditions that these poor creatures are suffering under. Their plight is intolerable and the fact that we cannot help upsets me and all my staff every day it continues. We can and are acting to save the four in Ketapang but can do little or nothing for the two in Pontianak. The problem is that not all orangutans are the same. Orangutans do not constitute one species, but actually two species with at least three sub-species: * Pongo abelii live on Sumatra * Pongo pygmaeus on Borneo The Borneo orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus is comprised of three sub-species: * Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus lives in West Kalimantan, * Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii in Central Kalimantan, and * Pongo pygmaeus morio live in East Kalimantan. The genetic data indicates that the three sub-species on Borneo diverged more than 860,000 years ago. Research is ongoing but possibly because of the differences in fruit availability or habitat, there are several differences in behavior and development between the two species and probably also among the sub-species. The differences could range from orangutan density, to diet, from birthing intervals to culture. BOS currently operates two centres: one in Central Kalimantan and one in East Kalimantan. The orangutans you ask about are from West Kalimantan. We are not able to mix Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus with either of the two subspecies we care for. It is considered wrong in genetic conservation terms. Even if we could find a solution to segregate the animals, the government will not let us. Whatever personal feelings we have on this matter and as much as we may wish to intervene, the Indonesian government insist that subspecies stay in the areas they come from naturally. We remain bound by these regulations and cannot intervene. The continuation of our present efforts in Central and East Kalimantan depends on cooperating fully and complying with these wishes. Were we to take matters into our own hands, we would risk the lives and safety of the other 900 orangutans currently in our care. Unfortunately, we cannot help the two long–term caged animals in Pontianak unless we open a new centre in West Kalimantan. Right now we simply do not have the money to do that. The two centres we have now are struggling to survive. We understand that at least one other organisation is looking to develop a new centre in West Kalimantan to deal with the plight of the orangutans there. We are providing all the help we can but unfortunately in the meantime orangutans do suffer. The four other orangutans you wrote about are in Ketapang. Ketapang is also in the political region of West Kalimantan. Orangutan populations do not however adhere to political boundaries and it is possible, even probable that these four are from a sub-species we can help: (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii). BOS first heard about these four individuals in October. They were being held by the government authorities who are in control of where all rescued orangutans are placed. I am sure you understand that it is not like rescuing a stray cat or dog in the west. We cannot just go and pick up an animal and decide we want to look after it. The government decides. In October, as soon as we were informed by the authorities about these four orangutans and the circumstances under which they were being kept, we made it clear to them that we would be willing to take the animals at our centre in Central Kalimantan. We would take them in, look after them and perform DNA testing to ensure they were the right sub-species before allowing them to mix with the others. Unfortunately, the authorities have taken a very long time to decide that we can have them. As I write they are still being held at the holding centre. We await one final piece of paperwork before we can secure their release. We hope for this within the week but know from experience not to count on time estimates when dealing with local bureaucracy. This is a frustrating, but inescapable fact when dealing with the authorities in this part of the world. Frustrating as it is for us, it is far worse for the orangutans who continue to suffer in inadequate conditions. We will do everything we can to help them get to our centre as soon as we can. I know these answers are not the ones you really wanted to hear. I am sure that you, like me, wish that we could stop this suffering and that we could take in all orangutans who needed help. Even more we wish that they were never in a position to need our help in the first place. But this is not the situation in Borneo. Rainforest destruction continues unabated and the donations we receive, while saving the many orangutans that fall under our care , cannot keep apace with the devastation. Even when we have the ability to help, like now, bureaucracy slows down that aid. At the sharp end of conservation, things are no so clear cut as they can appear from afar. We have to compromise. We can't say things that maybe we would like to say or say them as loudly or stridently as we might wish to. We must sometimes work directly with people who hurt the creature we love It is frustrating. Very frustrating. I want to thank you so much for your enquiry. Thank you for caring so much about the future of the orangutan. We count on you to ask questions like you just have but we also count on you to understand the complexities and the reality BOS live with every day in Borneo. It is upsetting when people interpret actions born of a pragmatic understanding of the conditions on-the-ground as a lack of care or as organisational laziness. I feel it is very important to understand who the enemies are and they are not organisations like WWF, WSPA, Orangutan Foundation International, Orangutan Conservancy or NatureAlert all of whom are working to save the species. I hope in future that rather than attacking each other, we can together tackle the real enemy. Thank you once again for caring so deeply for the orangutan. In friendship, Best wishes, Aldrianto Priadjati
Thanks for posting the reply you received from BOS. I am very conflicted about this. I WANT to admire BOS -- Their founder, Willie Smits, is a real hero in my book. Sean Whyte, who has the Nature Alert blog and who has been begging BOS for help since this summer, states that BOS has never raised the issue of interbreeding subspecies and, in any case, has transferred orangutans between regions (and between subspecies) in the past. According to Karl Ammann, an author and photographer who has been following the orangutan crisis in Borneo for two decades, BOS has essentially been taken over by government officials who are more concerned about BOS public relations than with their mission. I have repeatedly asked BOS for their budget and for a list of their activities, and have received only silence. I cannot find out what they are doing. The lack of effective habitat preservation in Indonesia, and the continuing expansion of the orangutan captive population and deaths, is fueling a firestorm of charges and allegations.... Ammann charges that "the efforts of both the conservation and now the animal welfare establishments have failed and are failing." He goes on to say that "while millions of hectares of Indonesia's secondary lowland forests are being replaced by palm oil plantations, no new areas are being allocated for the rescue and rehabilitation of the hundreds of homeless orangutans." Can't anyone save those two orangutans? If all of the in situ animal welfare groups, and all of the contributions pouring in from WSPA, WWF, Flora & Fauna, Orangutan Conservancy, Orangutan Outreach and God knows who else can't save these two, what hope is there for the hundreds more??
Good news I received word today that BOS and Orangutan Foundation International both told the Indonesian government they had space and were willing to take these two orangutans. The situation has now been resolved, writes Aldrianto Priadjati, the executive director of BOS Foundation. “The orangutans have at last actually been flown to Orangutan Foundation International,” he wrote in his email message. "OFI [is] an internationally renowned orangutan rescue and rehabilitation organisation. They have been working in Borneo for longer even than BOS. Burite Galdikas, their founder, is world famous as part of the great ape trio that includes Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall.” “We have not abandoned these orangutans. Nor would we ever knowingly leave orangutans in distress that are in need of our help,” he says. “They are going to a rescue centre of the highest reputation.” BOS Foundation never responded to my emails. Nor does his full message jive with what he wrote to others. This news was excerpted from an email message forwarded by Michelle Desilets, International Campaigns Director, Borneo Orangutan Survival International in the UK.
Chains remain Nature Alert reports that the orangutans have NOT been rescued and remain in horrible conditions. It is absolutely amazing that it is taking sooooo long to help these animals.
