An Orangutan Release In Pictures - See How The 7 Orangutans At Samboja Were Released!

Posted by Connor Whelan on 21st Jul 2017

After bringing you the exciting news about the 7 orangutans that were released from the Samboja Lestari Orangutan Sanctuary earlier this month, we are excited to show you the pictures we received from the release team! Helping orangutans to begin a new life in the forest is a hard job, so take a look at the pictures below to see the process!

The first steps look the most severe but it is very important that the orangutans are put under sedation for their own safety during transportation. They are very well cared for by the team throughout this process and they are then helped into their transportation cages.

Once safely in the cage, the orangutans are loaded onto the trucks that are used for the first part of their release journey.

The team at Samboja prays to ensure the orangutans have safe passage on their journey to the forest.

The journey can get a little tricky at times as the roads in Borneo are often not as smooth as they are in the West! Some heavy duty equipment comes in useful at times to help the trucks get through the mud!

After the trucks have arrived at the riverside it is time to get the orangutans onto the small boats that will take them upriver to the release site. This section of the trip takes a lot of concentration and balance to avoid any mistakes!

Once the orangutans finally near their destination, the last part of the journey has to be made on foot so it is time for the BOS Foundation team to really step into action and carry the cages through the forest to the release site.

As you can imagine, an orangutan is not the lightest animal in the world so the team are very thankful when they are able to put the orangutans down ready to be released!

This is the moment that everyone was waiting for, and as you can see from the picture so were the orangutans! As soon as the cage door is opened the orangutans run up the nearest tree to begin their life of freedom!

The release went off without an issue and we can’t wait to hear an update on how these orangutans are enjoying life back out in the Bornean rainforest so keep your eyes peeled later in the year!

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Mike commented 5 years ago

Love this!

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Patricia commented 6 years ago

I hope all the released orangutans do well in their new environment. Here's to Freedom!

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