this was on the news last night (on Campbell Live): 3 News > National > Story > Zoo's defence of orangutans comes at a cost basically, Auckland Zoo as part of its school holiday programme was going to have a competition to win a family trip to Borneo to see orangutans in the wild (well, probably at Sepilok, but near enough). Kids would be given a competition "passport" containing questions etc and these would be entered for the prize. Unfortunately the answer to one of the questions, regarding what is the primary reason for the endangerment of orangutans, was "palm oil" -- and the competition's sponsor, Tourism Malaysia, did not like that one little bit seeing as how palm oil is the country's biggest money-spinner so they withdrew their support and with it went the holiday to Borneo. Their (Tourism Malaysia's) argument was that as a government organisation they (Tourism Malaysia) cannot take political standpoints which is fair enough but a bit rough for the Zoo and also a bit rough for the rainforest in Malaysia one would say. One little girl was so annoyed about it and so upset over the fate of the wild orangutans that she held an assembly at her school to highlight the issues for her fellow students. And she also gave up Tim Tams, so it goes to show that everyone's a loser where palm oil is concerned. [interesting aside: when I was in Malaysia I discovered that (apparently) the Malaysian government rather underhandedly counts palm oil plantations as part of the estimated forest cover remaining in the country!]
@Chlidonias - an awful story...thanks for passing it on. I have seen many zoos bow to financial pressures, and I find it inspiring that Auckland - whether intentionally or not - said what needs to be said. I suppose I'd be more inspired if the zoo urged the public to give up palm oil products (now that would be taking a risk!)
Hi there. I work at Auckland Zoo as a keeper and obviously can't really comment much on the Tourism Malaysia story but would like to set the record straight by saying all of us at Auckland Zoo actively campaign against palm oil use, and we DO actively inform, educate and encourage our visitors to stop using it. We do this with full support of zoo management. We have signage all around the orangutan area detailing what palm oil is and why they should not use it. We also focus strongly on this issue in our public encounters with the orangutans and it is the main conservation message that we focus on with the orangutans.
in the news item there was a shot of a sign-board about palm oil, but this obviously isn't in the written news item I linked to above
I go regularly to the zoo and its information about palm oil products and the actions one can take to curb one's usage of these products, greatly exceeds any I have seen at any other institution...
palm oil plantations are amongst the most depressing things in the world. Drive almost anywhere through Peninsula Malaysia and there are just endless miles of plantations lining the roads and then every so often a little patch of forest that hasn't surrendered yet. And I've flown over Indonesian Borneo and there were just fires burning everywhere, clearing the forest to make way for plantations. Incredibly sad.
Yes it is heartbreaking even though I haven't seen the reality of it in person, the footage I've seen and experts I've spoken to paint a bleak picture. Is hard to swallow when working closely with these beyond amazing animals. I'm just glad to work in a place that is trying to change things, and glad I can make a difference through my job even if it's only to reach one person a week!
