Abused Orangutan Couldn’t Even Straighten Her Legs When She Was Rescued – Now She’s Walking to the Forest!

We just love happy stories like this one! You may remember Amy, the orangutan who devastatingly kept chained in a small wooden cage, so cramped she couldn’t even straighten her legs. The tight chain around her neck caused a deep wound, her back was bent and she had scars on her hips. Amy was, thankfully, freed by the International Animal Rescue (IAR) and was rushed back to their rescue center for medical treatment and rehabilitation.

Back in June, Amy was moved to an outdoor cage at IAR’s rescue center, after a series of health checks and a period of quarantine. Amy made friends with the other orangutans and this sweet gal was fascinated by all of the sights and sounds around her. Well, Amy continues to make progress and we are now happy to share she is taking her next steps to freedom!

IAR recently shared photos of Amy walking with her keeper to a new forested enclosure at their Orangutan Conservation Centre in Ketapang, West Borneo. Go, Amy, go! 

Amy and 20 other orangutans have been moved to a new, larger area of the forest. They will have more space to rehabilitate before making their way back to where they belong: the wild. 

The new forested island is called Pulau Besar (or “Big Island”) which IAR created on 64 acres of forest land. Sounds like heaven! 

Getting to “Big Island” involves crossing a moat using a drawbridge ladder (seen below). The drawbridge goes up automatically, ensuring the orangutans don’t leave the island (they aren’t fond of water anyways, IAR notes!). 

Some of the orangutans tend to be scared to cross the drawbridge, but all made the trip safely across to their new home.  

“Amy walks slowly and rather gingerly, clinging to the hand of her keeper until she is safely across. Heartwarmingly, as she arrives in her new home, another orangutan comes down from a tree to greet her with a hug,” IAR said.

Along with Amy, one of the other rescued orangutans is Dio, rescued in 2014. At three-years-old, Dio was kept chained up after a group of hunters shot his mother, similar to Amy. Heartbreakingly, he had a bullet lodged in his eye. But IAR reports that Dio is thriving on the new island!

Way to go, Amy!

“It takes years for an orangutan like Amy to develop all the skills she will need to survive in the wild. Young orangutans stay with their mothers until they are six or seven years old and it takes just as long for the orangutans in our care to master the art of climbing and moving through the trees, not to mention nestbuilding, foraging for food and avoiding predators,” said Alan Knight, IAR’s Chief Executive.

While Amy and her friends have a happy ending, unfortunately, this isn’t often the case for orangutans. Orangutans are the common victims of deforestation, particularly in Indonesia. They are losing the towering trees they call home due to the palm oil industry, which is expanding endlessly onto their territory. It’s estimated that orangutans have lost around 90 percent of their original range, largely due to slash and burn deforestation. This method of clearing trees is popular in the palm oil industry and around 300 football fields of forest are leveled every hour to make more room for plantations. Sadly, this leaves orangutans with little choice but to travel into human villages in search of food.

Once in the presence of opportunistic humans, orangutans are frequently captured and sold – either to become bush meat or pets. Because of this, the orangutan population is in grave danger of extinction and if nothing is done to protect these animals, we stand to lose them forever.Luckily, we can all play a role in helping orangutans.

To learn more about palm oil and how to avoid it, click here.To make a donation to IAR and help them continue their life-saving work, click here.

Image Source: International Animal Rescue