by Tunggadewa Mattangkilang for the Jakarta Globe
Balikpapan. Ten orangutans have been released back into the wild in East Kalimantan after recovery in the Samboja Lestari rehabilitation center.
The six female and four male orangutans were set free in the Kehjesewen conservation forest in the East Kutai district of East Kalimantan on Thursday by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (Yayasan BOS).
“In 2014 we began our program by releasing 10 orangutans back into the wild. We are optimistic that we will be able to release more orangutans into their natural habitat — but this has to be supported by the existence of quality, safe forests,” said Samboja Lestari program manager Agus Irwanto.
Agus said the BOS was committed to achieving the release target set up in the Indonesian Orangutan Conservation Action Plan for 2007-2017, announced by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during the climate change conference in Bali in 2007. The plan calls for all orangutans in rehabilitation centers to be released back into their natural habitats by 2015.
Agus said that so far the BOS had released 31 orangutans back into natural forests. But more orangutans could be released if deforestation was halted, he said.
This excerpt from a news article appeared in and is courtesy of the Jalarta Globe and can be read in its entirety here.
