We recently returned to visit ‘Orangutan Island’ within the Bukit Merah Laketown Resort. After looking at pictures of this place (link bottom), you will realise what is wrong with Orangutan Island. This island and the resort is owned by a Malaysian businessman, who was valued at USD $235 million in 2007 according to Forbes.

Orangutan Island is one of our targets for 2013. We need support and are currently welcoming Malaysian based volunteers. Please contact us at the email address below if you are interested.

fotorangutans@gmail.com

At the same time, we are also looking to get support from other Malaysian wild animal/conservation NGOs, which may not be easy. Consider this statement by Rhett Butler of mongabay.com, who said in an article recently, “Malaysian conservation NGOs…typically don’t confront the government”.

Please see our Flickr page below for the latest pictures we got from Orangutan Island. Look for the “Older” tab above the pictures you see in link to go ‘next’.

Friends of the Orangutans (FOTO) is now in a busy period, including sourcing for funds and local support to ensure our campaigns and projects are carried out according to plans.

Join Friends of the Orangutans on our Facebook page, link is available on the right side of the main home page.

Stay tuned and thank you for your support thus far!

Our petition to help orangutans at the Shangri-la Rasa Ria resort has gathered over a thousand signatures, meaning the Sabah Wildlife Department has received more than one thousand emails regarding the treatment of orangutans at Rasa Ria. The pressure is piling.

Another letter from a supporter has been published to demand that we get the answers we have been patiently waiting for.

Read this letter and you will agree that young, orphan orangutans belong in a rehabilitation centre, not in a luxury hotel.

Orphaned orangutan should be in Sepilok

FMT LETTER: From Jane, via e-mail

Having visited Shangri-La’s Rasa Ria in Sabah, I can confirm that it is a superior resort with exceptionally high standards and guests are treated in a first class manner. Anyone who has stayed at a conference there can confirm this.

But, why does a 5* beach resort keep orangutans? I have never fathomed what the point of this exercise is? Is the issue of orangutan conservation and protection really such a high priority for the majority of international tourists who stay at 5* establishments, that they are desperate to visit the ones who are kept there?

I would urge the Sabah Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Masidi Manjun, to please ask the Sabah Wildlife Department to answer the many concerns posed by Malaysian based NGO, Friends of the Orangutans, which has asked repeated questions about the orangutans at Rasa Ria which have so far been ignored.

For example, why was Tenten, the orphaned orangutan, sent to a holiday resort rather than being kept at Sepilok where there would appear to be a better chance of successful rehabilitaion for this young ape? What happened to Tenten’s mother? Was she killed? If so, was anyone prosecuted for the killing?

Can the SWD also please inform concerned people  about what happened to the mothers of other young orphans at Sepilok?

Is there a full time vet at Rasa Ria? A three-year-old orangutan named Wulan, rescued by plantation workers on the East Coast of Sabah, was also recently sent to Rasa Ria. Again, why? And does anyone know what happened to Wulan’s mother?

Rasa Ria is a 5* resort that puts its Western equivalents to shame. But what good is that to orangutans? My view is that orangutans are neither needed or required to be sent there.

Why not keep them at Sepilok where they can, hopefully, begin the long rehabilitaion process which may eventually lead to their release and freedom? Isn’t that what anyone who cares about orangutans would advocate?

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2012/12/04/orphaned-orangutan-should-be-in-sepilok/

Please do sign and share the Rasa Rasa petition:

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/reveal-treatment-of-orangutans-at-rasa-ria-resort

Thank you for caring.

“The measure of a society can be how well its people treat its animals.” ~Mohandas Gandhi

Questions on Rasa Ria remain unanswered

December 3, 2012

FMT LETTER: From  Suzanne Vigenser (Australia), via e-mail

Why won’t the Sabah Wildlife Department answer questions regarding treatment of orangutans at Rasa Ria. To the director, Dr Laurentius Ambu, why have you remained silent on this issue and will you answer the following questions put to you and the Sabah Wildlife Department please.

Why was Tenten the orphaned orangutan sent to a holiday resort rather than be retained at Sepilok for rehabilition? Isn’t Sepilok better able to administer the care and expertise required of such a young orangutan? We imagine donors to Orangutan Appeal UK would be alarmed and disappointed to discover Sepilok is passing on cute babies to a luxurious hotel.

Was anyone arrested and prosecuted for the killing of Tenten’s adult mother? The Shangri-la company has recently announced a big increase in profits. Why, therefore, do they solicit donations at the resort and what happens to this money?

Is there a permanent, full time vet at Rasa Ria? How often does the SWD inspect the orangutans and their cages? We received reports of volunteers sent home for taking pictures of the condition of orangutans? Why is this so?

How many orangutans have died at Rasa Ria in the last five years? In this regard we have received a worrying report. By not addressing the above questions it raises suspicion that Sabah is not doing their job in protecting wildlife and orangutans and that is not proactive as it claims.

end

Direct link to article here

Friends of the Orangutans and Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN) recently provided some enrichment for eight orangutans at Ragunan zoo in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The eight were provided with Kong toys stuffed with chocolate, peanut butter and bananas. Check out some pictures at the link below.

https://www.fotomalaysia.org/?page_id=14

Many orangutans have suffered, and continue to suffer in Malaysia. The ministry of Natural Resources & Environment (NRE), led by Douglas Uggah Embas have time and again failed to ensure orangutans in captivity here are given the treatment they deserve, and there are zoos which seem to receive preferential treatment even after being caught with abusing orangutans.

The Public Complaints Bureau (BPA) of Malaysia, in its 2011 annual report, confirmed the NRE as the second most inefficient government agency in Malaysia when responding to complaints and taking action. A case in point, the NRE have not bothered to reply our numerous enquiries on the deaths of orangutans this year at the infamous Orangutan Island Foundation (OUIF) in Bukit Merah.

Click here for The Star’s publication on this, you may also download a copy of the 2011 report here (PDF).