A total of 140 orangutans have been released into their natural habitats in Central and East Kalimantan provinces since 2012.Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - The Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation has once again released 20 orangutans - 13 female and seven male - into the Bukit Batikap protected forest in Central Kalimantan province.
A total of 140 orangutans have been released into their natural habitats in Central and East Kalimantan provinces since 2012, Denny Kurniawan, the manager of the foundations Orangutan Reintroduction Program, stated here on Friday.
Eleven orangutans were released on February 6 and nine others on February 7, 2014.
With the release of the 20 orangutans, the Bukit Batikap protected forest will now have 119 orangutans in total, he noted.
The released orangutans include Jupiter, Mercury Reno, Hamlet and Manisha. The five orangutans were featured in a documentary film entitled "Orangutan Island" produced by NHNZ and screened on Animal Planet TV.
The release is part of the Indonesian governments strategy and action plan on Orangutan Conservation 2007-2017.
The action plan was launched by the President of the Republic of Indonesia during the Climate Change Conference in Bali, 2007.
It states that all eligible orangutans currently in rehabilitation centers should be released by 2015, and it has been endorsed by all levels of government, including the provincial and regency levels.
A core target of the plan of action is to stabilize the orangutan population and habitat from now until 2017.
Another objective is to release all ex-captive orangutans and close all current orangutan rehabilitation centers in the country by 2015.
Thousands of orangutans have been killed or displaced due to human development activities causing habitat loss.
The BOS Foundation focuses on orangutan rescue, rehabilitation, reintroduction and long-term conservation. The foundation has rescued thousands of orangutans over the past two decades and currently, provides care for approximately 800 orphaned orangutans at its centers in Central and East Kalimantan. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
