Help Save Our Cousins

Written by Ben Ross - Talking Auckland

Help Auckland Zoo

 

A break from our usual Budget and transport matters.

From Auckland Zoo

Join the race to save a great ape

 

As conservationists in Sumatra race to rescue orangutans from forests illegally converted to palm oil plantations, Auckland Zoo is calling on New Zealanders to take part in its 20 November Great Ape Race to help support these vital efforts.

The fun evening event (4pm-8.30pm) during Orangutan Caring Week (15-23 November) is a mini ‘Amazing Race’ around the Zoo grounds for both families and social/corporate groups, and a fundraiser for the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP).

Only last week, SOCP rescued an adult female orangutan and her three-year-old daughter from an isolated patch of trees surrounded by miles of palm oil plantations in the northern region of Aceh Province’s Tripa peat swamps.

 

“From the Jantho release station, which Auckland Zoo helps fund, we’ve now relocated Merkati and baby Mawar into the adjoining protected Jantho Nature Reserve here in northern Sumatra, and they’re doing really well. If we hadn’t got them out they would have surely died within the next few months because there’s simply not enough food for them,” says SOCP director, Dr Ian Singleton.

Many other orangutans have been rescued by SOCP in recent months. Among them, babies – orphaned due to their mothers being killed, and in critical conditions from being kept illegally as pets.

Auckland Zoo primate team leader, Amy Robbins, who works with the SOCP team, says the biggest threat to the survival of the orangutan is deforestation of its habitat on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra – primarily to make way for oil palm plantations.

“It’s heartbreaking to see the extent of the deforestation first-hand in Sumatra and the trauma and suffering these primates that are 97% genetically the same as us, are being put through.  What is heartening is the amazing rescue, rehabilitation and release work SOCP is engaged in that is giving a significant number of orangutans a second chance at life. SOCP is also playing a key role in habitat protection, education and scientific research,” says Ms Robbins.

 

Along with supporting the Great Ape Race, Auckland Zoo is encouraging New Zealanders to use its online Palm Oil-Free Shopping Guide to help reduce their palm oil consumption. 

In 2012, palm oil consumption reached 50 million tonnes, 43.5% of which was not produced sustainably. By 2020, it is predicted world production will increase to 85.3 million tonnes, but less than a fifth of this will be produced sustainably.

One-year-old male Sumatran orangutan Bitang, whose mother was likely killed, was being illegally kept as a pet by villagers in Aceh. He came into the care of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme in August (10-months old) severely dehydrated and starving, but is now thriving Source: Auckland Zoo
One-year-old male Sumatran orangutan Bitang, whose mother was likely killed, was being illegally kept as a pet by villagers in Aceh. He came into the care of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme in August (10-months old) severely dehydrated and starving, but is now thriving
Source: Auckland Zoo

 

Further Information

 

Event details:

The Great Ape Race at Auckland Zoo with Lactic Turkey Events

Date: Thursday 20 November (4pm-8.30pm)

Races: Teams of 2 or 4 people can enter into the ‘Family Team’ category (racing from 4.30pm-6pm) or the ‘Social/Corporates’ category (racing from 5.30pm-7pm). No experience required, just plenty of energy and teamwork! Registration from 4pm.

Prices: (includes Zoo admission and entry from 3pm): Adult ($30); Children 4-14 years ($10); and Family (2 adults/2 children)

Food & Activities: A free juice and ice-cream for participants. Barbecue food and other refreshments for purchase, best team and spot prizes, entertainment and face-painting

Enter: Online at www.lacticturkey.co.nz or on-site at Auckland Zoo on the day. Note: late entry fee of $5 per person will be added to all on-the-day registrations. For further details visit www.aucklandzoo.co.nz

 

Orangutan fast facts:

  • The orangutan’s home range is restricted to just two islands – Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia
  • The Bornean Orangutan is listed as Endangered and the Sumatran orangutan as Critically Endangered; IUCN Red List (www.iucnredlist.org)
  • An estimated 6,600 Sumatran orangutans remain in the wild – in patches of rainforest in Northern Sumatra. The largest populations are in Gunung Leuser National Park near Aceh
  • The Leuser Ecosystem, a protected area, is the only place on earth where Sumatran orangutans, tigers, elephants and rhinos roam together. There are many calls for it to be recognised as a World Heritage Site.  Visit: http://leuserecosystem.org/leuser/52-the-leuser-ecosystem.html
  • The orangutan has the longest birth interval of any mammal. In Sumatra, some females may give birth only once every 10 years, and females do not breed until they are 17 years
  • Auckland Zoo supports the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme  (SOCP) – to rehabilitate and release rescued orangutans into protected areas in the wild. Visit: www.aucklandzoo.co.nz/sites/conservation/in-the-wild

 

———————-