Orangutan Rescue: On the frontline in Sumatra

While most people were enjoying the holiday season, the HOCRU team in Aceh had to spring into action to save one of the youngest baby orangutans they've ever been called out for. 

The baby, later named Eva, was estimated to be less than a week old when the team picked her up from a village near Subussalam. A local resident said that he found Eva near his farmland, and that her mother was nowhere to be seen. The HOCRU team suspects that someone had killed Eva's mother so they could sell Eva into the pet trade. Though this is illegal in Sumatra, selling an orangutan can brings in a large financial reward for someone who might be struggling to earn enough money through other means. The outreach work HOCRU does to speak to and help people who could potentially become illegal traders is vital in keeping these kind of incidents to a minimum.

Eva is now being cared for at the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme rehabilitation centre near Medan, and will eventually be released into the wild when she is old enough. The HOCRU team are back in the field, monitoring orangutans who are in forests near human settlements and speaking to people in the villages they pass through on their journeys. 

Thank you for supporting the team as they carry out this physically and emotionally demanding work.