Three rehabilitated orangutans climbed into Kehje Sewen forest

Three Bornean orangutans left the Samboja Lestari center for Kehje Sewen forest on Thursday, November 5. ANTARA News reported the release that night from Kutai Kartanegara. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation and East Kalimantan's conservation agency moved Dennis, a male of 11, Amesh, a male of 12, and Catherine, a female of 11. Regional manager Aldrianto Priadjati said this was the 27th release into that forest, and that the three can climb, find wild food, and build nests.

A fourth animal, a male named Marlon, was held back after diarrhea on Thursday morning. Veterinarian Agus Irianto said the road from Samboja Lestari to Kehje Sewen is about 600 kilometres, roughly 24 hours, so only a healthy orangutan makes the trip. He said Marlon would follow once he recovered.

ANTARA traced their arrivals. Amesh was evacuated on September 24, 2016, from South Sangatta at about one or two years old, separated from his mother after the 2015 fires, and later went through forest school. Dennis was rescued on September 14, 2018, on a plantation in Bengalon at about two or three, after being kept in an empty house. Catherine arrived on June 29, 2019, from Muara Badak and needed intensive care for an inflamed air sac. Foundation chief Jamartin Sihite said satellite checks and a field team found Kehje Sewen, more than 86,000 hectares, free of the current fires, and that they would not have released the animals if it were not. The forest's released population is now 156, with room for about 20 more, while Samboja Lestari still cares for about 110. Monitors will watch daily for the first three to six months, the critical stretch, then less often for one to two years. The news is these three. It is not a count of every orangutan in Borneo.