The Orangutan Conservancy has long been a supporter of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program (SOCP). The multi-faceted operation, headed up by the indefatigable Ian Singleton, consistently makes impactful progress in the lives of wild and captive orangutans. Their quarantine center near Medan has been the first step of healing and rejuvenation for many ill and injured orangutans that have later been rereleased back into the wild in Jantho.
Some orangutans, however, will never be able to go back to the wild, and this is the reason Singleton and his team are developing the islands at Orangutan Haven. Unreleasable orangutans will have a semi-wild home to live out their years in comfort and safety. Along with providing permanent homes for the great apes, Orangutan Haven will provide learning opportunities for Indonesians to gain more knowledge about the magnificent orangutan species by visiting the site’s Wildlife Conservation Education Center.
Progress on a project of this size is oftentimes slow, but SOCP is making headway in their continued mission to bring this large-scale facility to life, and the Orangutan Conservancy has been with them since the beginning of the journey.
We are pleased to announce another round of funding toward the project, and with hundreds of thousands of dollars still needed to finish the tremendous undertaking we hope our supporters will continue to enthusiastically champion the creation of the islands.
Ian Singleton tell us, “We’ve cut a main artery road and set up a bamboo preparation facility so we can produce decent bamboo to build a bridge across the river. We also did a detailed hydrological survey recently too. Next step is to start marking out the islands themselves and planning for excavating and creating those. We also had a few meetings with local government to socialize the project. So it is moving along….although still very much step by step.”
Thanks for the update, Ian, and you can count on OC to be there for the future steps toward Orangutan Haven.
Please help us to make our next contribution to SOCP by making your donation to OC today.
