Inside Kalimantan: One-handed Orangutan Celebrates Seven Years of Freedom
Palangka Raya. When Kessie, a female orangutan, was three years old, Dayak villagers found her chained by wrist at a palm oil plantation. Plantation workers often fight orangutans who enter the estates to take food — Kessie was severely punished for her actions. The villagers freed her, but her gangrenous left hand had to be amputated.
She was brought to the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) in Nyaru Menteng, Central Kalimantan, where she spent the next five years of her life. Now 12-year-old Kessie roams freely on the Palas Island, one of the foundation's pre-release centers near Nyaru Menteng. She looks like any other orangutan lounging in Kalimantan's jungles, but her long walk to freedom hasn't ended yet.
Ignatius Putu, a guide with Kalimantan Destination Tours, has been involved in orangutan conservation work for over a decade. He said young orangutans often end up at BOSF sanctuary because poachers kill their mothers to sell the babies to circuses and exotic animal collectors.
While in Nyaru Menteng, Kessie attended a forest school where rangers teach rescued orangutans survival skills. After the course, most of the animals are moved to Palas Island, where they can live in a natural habitat but are still monitored and given food, if needed. Sanctuary management wasn't sure if one-handed Kessie would be able to survive.
BOSF workers decided to give her a chance under close monitoring. Against the odds, Kessie thrives and celebrates her seventh year in natural environment.
Kessie will live at Palas Island for the next few years. If everything goes well, she will be moved to Kaja Island, the next step between the sanctuary and the wild. If her progress continues, she will be released back into the wild.
Orphan orangutans like Kessie are increasingly common as palm oil plantations destroy their habitats and poachers hunt them for trade.
Aug. 19 commemorates World Orangutan Day, with less than 40,000 of critically endangered animal left in the wild. BOSF is currently home to 487 rescued orangutans, which they hope to release back into the jungle — someday.
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