Last week the HOCRU team returned to the same area to check whether any other orangutans were in trouble, and found another adult female and baby. Once again, they were safely relocated, saving them from certain death. Here, Panut Hadisiswoyo, Founding Director of the OIC, describes the rescue…

“The HOCRU team regularly responds to reports of orangutans being spotted in farmlands next to the forest. Sometimes the orangutans are able to return to the forests themselves, but sometimes they can become isolated, and resort to crop-raiding for survival.

Last week, the OIC’s HOCRU team, assisted by the Leuser Ecosystem Management Agency (BPKEL), Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP) and local Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA), successfully rescued a female orangutan and her baby. They were isolated in a large oil palm plantation in Aceh Tamiang, around five kilometres away from the national park border.

The location of the rescue. On the left is the forest patch where the orangutans were found.

This follows the rescue of another mother and baby orangutan in the Aceh Tamiang area just weeks earlier. Having been told there may be more orangutans in need of help, the HOCRU team returned to the area. After searching for two days, they found the female orangutan and her infant in the plantation. It was getting dark, so they decided to wait until the next day to attempt the rescue, but followed the orangutans until they built their nest for the night.

The next morning, the rescue team got to work. First they tranquilised the baby orangutan, a male thought to be around two years old.

The baby orangutan was tranquilised so that he could be safely moved and checked by the vet.

Whilst Yenni, the SOCP vet, tended to the baby, the HOCRU team returned to capture his mother. HOCRU staff Krisna, Rabin and Rudi managed to tranquilise her and get her down safely from the tree.

HOCRU's Rudi Irmawan carries the tranquilised mother orangutan.

Thankfully, health checks showed that neither orangutan had any injuries, so once they had regained consciousness the pair were released into the GLNP, having a second chance to roam freely in their natural habitat.

The two orangutans were released into the Gunung Leuser National Park.

We have received reports of at least six more orangutans isolated in plantations in this area, which are in urgent need of evacuation. They cannot return to their natural forest habitat as the hills around the plantation have been cleared of all tree cover and are being converted for oil palm planting. The HOCRU team will return to help these orangutans as soon as possible.

This female and her infant have been released in the Gunung Leuser National Park.

If orangutan habitat continues to be converted for oil palm plantations in Aceh, more orangutans will become isolated and this means more orangutans are at risk of being slaughtered by palm oil workers, as we have seen happening in Borneo. It is also likely that we will see more conflict between humans and other species which are also losing their habitat, such as Sumatran tigers and elephants.

The spread of oil palm plantations into critical orangutan habitat is the single greatest threat to the species.  Together, SOS and OIC campaign for an end to deforestation, and work with communities living next to the last remaining orangutan habitat to protect and restore the forests. The HOCRU team is working on the frontline of orangutan protection in Sumatra– with so few individuals remaining in the wild, each and every one needs to be given the best possible chance of survival.

We rely on donations from generous supporters to keep fighting for a brighter future for orangutans and their forests. Please support SOS today. 

Canadian violinist Katie Stillman is a force to be reckoned with. Having toured Mexico at just 15 years old, she won the prestigious Grand Prize at the Canadian Music Competitions at 16, before winning Radio Canada’s Young Artists Performance Prize.

Katie then studied at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) where she won numerous prizes including the John Manduell Prize for outstanding achievement and also met duo partner Simon Lane. The duo has since performed throughout the UK and Canada including at London’s Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Room.

“We are delighted to be involved in fundraising for the Sumatran Orangutan Society,” says Katie. “We will begin with a more traditional violin and piano recital – perfect in such a lovely hall – then continue after the interval with a more relaxed Salon-style evening.  This gives us the chance to chat to the audience, sharing the stories of these virtuosic and often sentimental works which gave the composers their chance to shine.”

The concert  will include pieces by composers including Massenet, Beethoven, Elgar, Gershwin and Respighi.

Sumatran orangutans are critically endangered and SOS works hard to protect them, so we’re incredibly lucky to have such talented musicians supporting the cause. We hope you’ll join us there!

Doors 7.30pm, concert 8pm. Tickets www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford/ or www.wegottickets.com £15 (stalls) £20 (balcony), all proceeds to SOS.

Praise for Katie Stillman and Simon Lane:

“Combined tenderness, wistful nostalgia and red-blooded passion in an interpretation of terrific distinction and compelling emotional force.” The Daily Telegraph

“Sensitive and passionate musicianship matched by an excellent technique, the result being utterly persuasive performances” Philip Dukes

The Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) is not an ‘orangutan rescue’ charity. Together with the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC), our partners in Sumatra, we focus on a combination of forest restoration, community-led conservation, education and campaigning. However, with levels of human-orangutan conflict on the rise in Sumatra, we’ve become increasingly involved in tackling it.

The OIC’s Human Orangutan Conflict Response Unit (HOCRU) was formed in 2010. Based in North Sumatra and Aceh, the team is responsible for responding to such conflict in areas around the Gunung Leuser National Park (GLNP). As well as mapping conflict sites, the team helps prevent conflict in the field and runs regular education sessions and workshops. They also regularly receive reports of orangutans stranded in farmlands or being illegally held. In such situations, the orangutans are often in real danger. In acting on such reports, HOCRU often end up assisting with rescues too.

The HOCRU team set off in search of the orangutans.

Earlier this month, for example, Panut Hadisiswoyo, OIC Founding Director, received a call from the Leuser Ecosystem Management Authority (BPKEL) asking for help with two orangutans stranded in farmlands near the village of Rimba Sawang, East Aceh. The area used to be a huge rubber plantation – about 800 hectares in total – but is now being cleared and replanted with oil palms. Because orangutans sometimes eat the leaves and bark of rubber trees, they’re often tempted into such spots, but as the bulldozers were clearing the area, the orangutans – a mother and infant – had become isolated, unable to return to the GLNP, around 6km away.

The HOCRU team were alerted immediately and, after a long drive, arrived at the scene and began their search (see above). After almost four hours they found what they’d been looking for… a female orangutan, around 20 years old, carrying her one year-old infant. The orangutans were spotted in a small patch of degraded forest (see below) and the baby, still reliant on its mother’s milk for survival, looked weak and unhealthy. Knowing they had to act fast, HOCRU contacted the authorities and SOCP (Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme) veterinary team, who have the expertise necessary for rescues in the field.

The mother and infant orangutan.

The infant orangutan clings on - still highly dependent on its mother.

Together, they decided that the best plan was to move the mother and infant back to the GLNP – leaving them isolated with access to so little food could well result in their death. So a few days later a blowpipe was used to inject the mother with a sedative, before safely moving her and her infant to a transport cage. The orangutans were released back into the GLNP the next day. Of course it was a special moment – the mother climbing the nearest tree and swinging into the branches, the infant clinging to her side.

Return to the national park!

Without the help of our supporters, it’s hard to know what would have become of these two orangutans, but now their story continues. Sadly, though, so too does the problem of human-wildlife conflict. We still need your help. As more and more forest is destroyed to make way for agriculture, an increasing number of orangutans are being placed in danger. This is why the HOCRU team must continue with their work, not just responding to reports of conflict, but also working with local communities and government officials to prevent such conflict before it happens.

Could you help us protect orangutans and their rainforest home? Please visit www.orangutans-sos.org/help. Thank you.

I have been part of the SOS team for six years now. Based in the UK, I love raising funds and awareness for our work to protect orangutans and their forests, but the highlight of my job is definitely the opportunity I have to travel to Sumatra to see the projects in action! I have recently returned from the field, brimming with pride about all that we are achieving.

SOS has supported the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) and its team of Indonesian conservationists for more than ten years now. It’s always a pleasure to meet with the passionate, dedicated, people working on the front line of environmental protection. On this trip, I headed to Medan and spent a week with David Dellatore, our Scientific Director, and Panut Hadisiswoyo, head of the OIC, travelling around northern Sumatra to see what a difference our combined efforts – and our supporters – are making.

First stop was the village of Bukit Lawang, often referred to as the ‘gateway to the Gunung Leuser National Park’ (GLNP)  which forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I spent a day taking in the incredible sights, sounds and smells of the jungle, trekking the steep slopes in search of wildlife – an incredible experience. As well as spotting Thomas leaf monkeys and magnificent hornbills, I was lucky enough to see two female orangutans with their babies. I’ll never forget watching as the young ones boldly somersaulted through the branches, never venturing too far from their watchful mothers. There’s nothing like seeing these amazing animals doing what they do best – swinging through the trees high above.

Pedal power!

Before leaving Bukit Lawang, I also went along to a film screening organised as part of our pedal-powered conservation cinema project. Launched in June 2011 with the Great Ape Film Initiative, the project is having a real impact, visiting local communities and schools, showing films to inspire people to protect their forests and all the wildlife within them. More than 1000 people have already attended screenings. The one I went to was packed, with people queuing up to jump on the bike and provide the power for the cinema equipment.

Planting trees

On my last day before flying home, I headed to our rainforest restoration site in Besitang. When I last visited two years ago I was thrilled to get my hands dirty and plant some tree seedlings. As I patted down the soil around the tiny saplings, I hoped that one day they would grow strong and tall enough for an orangutan to build their nests in. Of course we’ve been following the trees’ progress ever since – the team has sent us lots of photos and updates – but nothing could have prepared me for seeing the results for myself…

Large areas of land illegally cleared by a palm oil company and left barren and desolate, were now looking lush, green and full of life! The tiny saplings I planted had grown beautifully, along with tens of thousands more planted by the local community. Some trees are now over four metres tall. Thanks to our camera traps, we also have photos of orangutans, elephants, pig-tailed macaques, leopard cats, and a host of other wildlife using the restoration site. Although I didn’t see these during my visit, I did hear the calls of birds and gibbons – a huge contrast to the eerie silence of a giant oil palm plantation…  It’s clear that together with the local community, the OIC team are doing an incredible job.

There is still a lot more land in need of restoration here, and the team at Besitang are busy nurturing thousands more seedlings. Ari, the project manager, showed me around the  tree nursery, pointing out various species – some fast-growing to provide shade for other seedlings, others that attract birds to help spread seeds from the surrounding forest. Of course, I couldn’t leave without planting some more. I also got to watch the team cut down illegally planted oil palms – there are still around 4,000 left standing on national park land.

My week in Sumatra passed too quickly, but seeing the results of our rainforest restoration programme was the perfect end to a fantastic trip. I know that when I next return, the area will be even closer to its former glory. And I have returned to the UK more determined than ever to fight to change the way that forests are used and abused in Indonesia, and to work towards a brighter future for this incredible habitat and for orangutans.

We rely on public support to enable all this work to happen. A huge thank you to all of our supporters. If you would like to help, please click here to make a donation.  UK supporters can also text APES12 followed by your donation amount to 70070 (e.g. to donate £10, text APES12 £10). Thank you.