Episode 5 Orangutan Diary

'Last time on Orangutan Diary,

'an orphan was rescued in a tense stand-off.

'Ellie and Grendon were doing well at their forest school,

'learning to be wild orangutans.

'Meanwhile, little Lomon took his first tentative steps up a tree.

'The most memorable moment was when big male Zorro

'was released onto an island, after 13 miserable years behind bars.

'The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation

'looks after rescued and confiscated orangutans.

'With over 450 animals to look after,

'Lone Droscher-Nielsen and her team are always busy.

'They work around the clock to care for and educate the orangutans.

'The aim is to return as many animals as possible back to the wild.

'Most are victims of the palm oil industry.

'With rainforest being destroyed to make way for plantations,

'the orangutans are left with nowhere to go.

'In the last decade,

'over five million hectares of orangutan habitat

'have been wiped out by the palm oil industry alone.

'Today, Steve has come to rescue yet another victim.'

Well, these people have managed to capture this orangutan,

which is quite a feat in itself.

Unfortunately, the only thing they could keep it in

is this concrete drain.

As you can see, it's not in the best condition now.

Very, very weak. Quite distressed. A little bit cut up.

Trying to escape every five minutes.

This is a common site to find them.

They were in the middle of this huge palm oil plantation.

These orangutans wander in from the forest,

and are easy to spot,

walking around when there's no real cover at all.

Obviously, with it being a wild animal,

it's not going to be used to being handled,

so sedation is absolutely essential.

Alex is one of the vets from the centre and he will do that.

There we go.

All right, little one. There we go.

It's looking pretty dried up and quite dehydrated as well.

Those eyes are all gummed up with dust and dirt.

It will take a bit of time for that sedative to take effect.

You have to be careful with an animal that's distressed

and dehydrated and possibly injured.

It's always a concern using anaesthetics.

So it's a bit of a critical period. Just to keep a close eye on him.

'Every morning, the Forest School 1 orangutans

'head out into the forest.

'There's always an excited, happy mood

'and I can't wait to see how my favourite pupil has progressed.'

At Forest School 1, there has been a remarkable transformation recently.

One individual has shot to the top of the class,

and it is Lomon, who's behind me.

He has changed so much.

Not only is he seriously starting to grow hair,

so he doesn't look so bald, but his character has changed.

His eyes are so much brighter.

He doesn't sit around any more, like a weary old man.

The best thing of all is that he has started to climb.

In fact, Lomon is doing so well.

He's a bit older than all the other orphans in this group.

He's beginning to tire of them,

so he's going to be moved up to join some slightly older orphans.

He'll still be the eldest by a long way.

He's starting to get a bit more relaxed now.

He's started to nod his head.

His eyes are drooping a bit.

Remember, these guys are extremely strong.

An adult male orangutan would be seven times stronger than a human.

Even though we are trying to help it, it can't tell, obviously.

Yeah, so be warned.

Steady, steady, petal.

Obviously, we can't even get in to assess its anaesthetic depth,

but it looks fairly out of it now.

'It's hard to know how long the anaesthetic will last.

'It is important to get the orangutan out quickly.'

LOCAL LANGUAGE

She's just got some...

'With her out of that concrete pipe,

'the next step is to assess any injuries.

Yeah, it feels more like a... Yeah.

There's a subluxation. It's a dislocation.

It's out of joint.

Yes, a dislocation.

We should get her back to the centre as soon as possible.

Oh, dear. He's going to be a pretty confused ape when he wakes up.

'We're heading back to the centre.

'We witness the problem that our rescued orangutan faced,

'the deforestation of Borneo's rainforests.'

It's the speed and the scale that I...

It just... It just beggars belief.

I foolishly thought it was all done with chainsaws,

and that it takes time.

The speed these machines rip through. They're homes there.

Not only for orangutans.

I can't think of the number of creatures that are buried in here.

They've just absolutely flattened everything.

This is the price of palm oil.

But it doesn't have to be.

There are palm oil companies out there not doing this.

We've got to get our heads round this.

There are ways around this. We don't need to do this.

Look at what's left.

Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

'Lomon is moving up to one of the senior classes in Forest School 1.

'It's a great progression.

'He and his new classmates still face another five years of schooling.'

This is your new class, Lomon.

They look quite mischievous, some of them!

Oh, hello!

Well, just look at that!

Lomon is building a nest!

It's on the ground and it should be up a tree,

but that's a good start.

That's how a wild orangutan would build a nest.

It would pull the branches in from the side and fold them over.

He is finding his branches that are too big,

and he's gnawing a bit off to use.

What I find incredible is that a lot of that must be instinct.

They also learn off each other.

That's why it's fantastic that these orphans

can be put together in a big group like this.

Although they live solitary lives in the wild,

they can be very sociable animals.

They're solitary in the wild because of food dispersal.

Lomon is interacting so much with the other orphans.

He's so different to before.

It was a good move to move him into this group.

The orphans are more his size,

and they're a lot more active, as you can see.

They all seem to be climbing all the time.

I'm sure that encourages him to climb more.

Well, look at that! Lomon at the top of a tree!

I did think that I might never see that.

Not only is he climbing, but climbing so confidently.

Lomon really has been incredible.

One day he wasn't climbing, and the next minute he was up a tree.

It's almost as if he really took his time to eat and eat

and then he thought,

"OK, I'll do what an orangutan does,"

which is climb a tree.

'Our rescued orangutan is recovering in her new accommodation,

'so I'm taking the chance to check up on another recent arrival.

'Yesterday, baby Amber was confiscated

'after some tricky negotiations between Lone and Amber's captor.'

Oh! Hello, Amber.

Hello.

What? What? Come on, then.

ORANGUTAN SQUEALS

Come on. Come on.

You're a bit frightened.

Beautiful eyes. That's better, isn't it?

You're just another statistic.

One more tiny orphan that's had an absolutely crappy start to life.

To think what she must have witnessed,

with her mother being killed in front of her,

and then being taken into what was quite inappropriate care.

If Amber had come in with her mum,

we'd only have to find a suitable release site for them

and get them back out into the wild.

Because her mum was killed,

she's committed to at least six years

being educated on how to be a wild orangutan again.

'In Forest School 1, play time is over.

'Now it's back to work for Lomon and his new classmates.'

Time for an important lesson.

There aren't predators on the forest floor in Borneo,

but they do have snakes.

We have to teach them to be afraid when they see a snake.

I'm not going to bring a real snake out here,

but I have got, under my T-shirt, a realistic-looking rubber snake.

Hopefully, none of them are looking.

I'm going to plant it on the floor here,

wait for one of them to see it,

and then I'll react in a slightly hysterical way

and see if I can frighten them.

Obviously, there's no point pointing the snake out.

I have to wait for one of the orphans to find the snake.

That's when I've got to react and make them scared of it.

Oops! Hey, look at that! That is a great reaction.

That one's seen it, and then we are going to start going...

Leave! No, no, no! Bad snake! Bad snake! Bad snake.

Oh! Bad snake! Bad snake!

Run! Run! Run!

Run! Run! Run! No, no, no!

Naughty snake! Gone!

Oh, sweet! Sweet!

Did you see the way they were clinging on to each other?

I think they got the general idea.

They weren't as frightened as I was hoping they'd be.

If I saw a snake, I wouldn't kill it,

but it is an important lesson for the orangutans to learn.

'Lomon isn't the only orangutan starting a new class today.

'Ellie and Grendon are also up for assessment,

'but which one of them has made the grade?'

It turns out that you were very quiet to start off with.

As she's got more settled in, she's more mischievous.

She's been a bit too boisterous with the smaller ones in this group.

We are going to find you a new group a bit more your size

for you to play with.

We thought Grendon would be the feisty one.

He's been held back because he's a little bit slow.

Time to go.

Time to go. Oh, like a dead weight. I want to stay here.

Come on, petal... Yes!

Well, yet another adventure!

"Oops," she says. "Don't drop me."

'It's great to see Ellie move up a group.

'At first, she was so nervous she couldn't eat or drink.

'Thanks to the team of baby-sitters, her progress has been remarkable.'

Right, El. Let's have a look.

Look at all these new folk to play with. These are your size.

Ah, there we go.

Look, she's gone straight for the baby-sitter.

She'll settle in there quickly.

This is much better,

because most of these guys are much more similar in age and size to her.

She'll settle in here well.

'With Ellie settling in with her new school mates,

'I'm keen to see how Grendon's coping without his best buddy.'

Grendon's making himself a nice nest.

It's not very high, but it's at least a nest!

It's quite an ingenious design because all they do is find a crook in a branch,

or some overlying branches,

and then just keep folding leaves and branches down in.

You need some more branches.

Here. That's it.

Keep pulling them in. Weaving them down. I'll give you a hand.

Give you some more. There you go.

It looks comfortable.

He sort of presses it down with his feet.

This one looks like it is going to fall over,

and tip him onto the floor!

It's getting lower, Grendon.

HE LAUGHS

Imagine this, though, 60 feet up.

I wouldn't want to sleep in it.

What happened? It was all looking so good.

That's not going to help, mate.

You should consider another profession.

I think the frustration is starting to show!

"This is rubbish!"

Today is an exciting day for one of our orangutans.

Sheba, the one I picked up from the airport.

We've been waiting a while for her test results.

She's TB-free,

which means she can come out of the cage and go into the forest.

She's going to be let out with two other orangutans

that have been in cages.

Hey, Sheba!

Wrong way, Sheba!

It must be so fantastic for them to get out from these barred cages,

and go out into the forest and start climbing trees.

It will be interesting to see how they react.

LOCAL LANGUAGE

Hello!

Lone, how do you reckon they will react once we stop?

If I have to be honest, I don't know.

I guess they're all different.

Sheba has a nice personality,

but she can easily get excitable.

Is it usual for them to go straight up a tree?

Some do. They see a tree and go straight off.

Others just sit and look at them.

LOCAL LANGUAGE

Look at Sheba go! That is amazing!

She's gone straight up that tree. How would she know how to climb?

It's just instinct.

We don't know if she's been in captivity her whole life.

We just know it's been some time.

It's very difficult. If we...

Most animals we get in have been in captivity since they were one.

If they are older, they are difficult to tame.

When we were at the airport, she came out of that box very calm.

With her teddy bear.

It must be great for you

to get them out of the cages, and into the forest to start rehabilitation.

It's always... Getting them out of there, it's just always a...

Well, it's just a happy day.

'I've come to a quarantine to check on the female

'with the dislocated ankle that was rescued this morning.'

Hello. Hello, little one.

She just looks so much better already.

Just cleaned up, she looks 100% better.

As you can see, she is actually using that right foot quite well,

so it's not holding her back.

This is a really simple process.

If wild orangutans are fit, healthy,

and pass the quarantine tests,

then there is no reason why she can't be in the trees,

living out her life as she should be.

'The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation

'is hoping to secure over 300,000 hectares of primary rainforest,

'where these orangutans can be released.

'Until the Indonesian authorities give the go-ahead,

'the rescued orangutans must stay here.'

This might be a simple process,

but it is a huge problem, and it's getting bigger and bigger.

These are more quarantine cages having to be built

because more wild orangutans are being brought here.

'These orangutans aren't the only ones waiting for a wild release site.'

'There are also those who have graduated to living on the islands.

'This is the last stage of schooling before they are released back into the wild.

'We're keen to see how one of the latest arrivals is getting on.

'I brought over Zorro yesterday.

'Unlike most of the others,

'Zorro was a fully grown adult

'when he was confiscated from the illegal pet trade.

'All he has ever known is the inside of a cage,

'so we are not sure how he'll respond

'to his first taste of freedom.

'As we approach the island,

'we are met by a massive male orangutan, Hercules.'

Look at the size of him! What a fantastic male!

He is coming closer. I'm going to get into the boat.

'With Hercules patrolling the beach,

'it's too dangerous for us to go any further.'

He is enormous!

The good thing is he hates getting all that hair wet.

I'm being a bit light-hearted,

but we really do have to remember he is a very strong lad.

He's a third heavier than I am,

and he can still lift all his body weight on one arm.

That's pretty strong.

It looks like he's had enough of us. He's going to sit in the shade.

I think he's satisfied his curiosity.

It's going to be difficult to find Zorro,

if we are worried about Hercules.

They will leave the technicians with him.

If he starts coming back this way, they'll give us a whistle.

'Hercules is used to the technicians,

'so he should be fairly relaxed in their presence.

'While they keep him distracted, we can check up on Zorro.'

I wonder how far he's gone? Oh, look. There he is.

Oh, that's fantastic!

-Oh, my God!

-Look how high he is, Steve.

I didn't think he'd be this quick.

I thought he'd be sat on that platform for days, and...confused.

This is just incredible!

The last time I saw him,

he was in his cage just going round in circles,

so to see what he should be doing,

which is climbing a tree, is astonishing.

That's just great.

The technicians said that he's slept in the trees.

He's not come down.

It's as if he's saying,

"You're not getting me in the cage. I'm staying up here, basically."

He just looks like he belongs there.

He just looks like he's just taken to it.

It's like he's always been up there.

I'd so love to be standing here in a few years' time,

looking up a tree like that and see Lomon.

'Thanks to Lone and the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation,

'hundreds of orangutans like Zorro, Grendon and Lomon

'are given a second chance.

'But the situation is at a critical level,

'with increasing numbers of orangutans arriving on an almost daily basis,

'the centre is being pushed to the limit.

'If the relentless destruction of Borneo's rainforest continues,

'wild orangutans will be extinct in ten years.

'And we simply can't let that happen.'