The 8^th to 14^th November 2020 is Orangutan Caring Week.

That gives me a great reason to tell you about a very special appeal which is being run by the Orangutan Foundation and the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme.

The Orangutan Foundation celebrated their 30^th Anniversary in October 2020 so it would be wonderful to see this appeal completed in the same year!

They are looking to raise £300,000 for conservation work that’s really vital.

In doing so, they want to save three species of orangutan:  The Bornean, Sumatran and  Tapanuli orangutans.  They are all critically endangered and are all suffering from a severe loss of tropical forest habitat.   As a result, their population numbers have plummeted by an incredible 90%. 

What will the £300,000 be used for?

In Borneo, it will be used for the following (and I’m kind of quoting):

• Protecting habitat in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve and the Tanjung Puting National Park
• Protection the operation of 8 guard posts in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve and two in the Tanjung Puting National Park
• Monitoring the health and behaviour of orangutans who have been released
• Supporting the veterinary and monitoring operations at 5 release camps
• Restoring degraded lands in the reserve
• Supporting the reforestation programme to increase the extent of habitat that’s suitable for the orangutans
• Conserving orangutans in landscapes outside conservation areas
• Collaborating with stakeholders across 2.5 million acres of prime forest habitat
  
  

In Sumatra,

The Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme needs funds urgently to:

• Manage peatlands in the Leuser Ecosytem
• Protect carbon-rich peatlands with the highest orangutan densities
• Protect the Tapanuli orangutans in the Batang Toru Ecosystem
• Increase protected status of their habitat and connecting fragmented forests 
• Build up newly established wild populations in Jantho and Bukit Tigapuluh
• Support SOCP’s reintroduction of rehabilitated ex-captive orangutans.
• Transfer ‘unreleasable’ orangutans to the new Orangutan Haven
• Care for disabled or sick orangutans that cannot be released back to the wild.

So you can see that the £300,000 will be very well spent and really help make a difference to orangutans (and a lot of other species living in the area who also call the forests home).

Both organisations have done a great deal of work in the time they have been looking after orangutans and now they need to do more to help them.  The Tapanuli species of orangutan was only found in 2017.

If we could get 60,000 people to donate £5 or its equivalent, that would hit the target!

Visit the Orangutan Foundation’s website to find out more and donate.