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ASIA / PACIFIC Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER November 7, 2016 Rehabilitated orangutans freed in Borneo as species dwindles By Andi Jatmiko The Associated Press EHJE SEWEN FOREST, Indonesia — Jamur didn’t hesitate as the door of her temporary cramped quarters slid open. In less than a second, the stocky red-haired orangutan was savoring freedom for the first time in nearly two decades. Her 10-year-old daughter, J-lo, would join her, along with three more of the endangered great apes. The long-limbed hirsute primates were the ninth set of Bornean orangutans to be released into a natural habitat by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation after years-long rehabilitation from trauma often inflicted by people. Taken from their sanctuary, Samboja Lestari, to an even remoter spot on the island of Borneo, a journey by road, boat, and foot that takes nearly 24 hours, the orangutans bolted from their holding boxes and scaled the nearest trees with astonishing speed and agility. “Because we love them, we have to let them go, to be free in their habitat,” said Jamartin Sihite, chief executive of the foundation, after all five orangutans had climbed into the tropical forest canopy. “They have a right to live in their natural state and not with people as pets.” The release of the five marked the 25th anniversary of the foundation and was done in conjunction with government conservation officials. It is part of a herculean effort to prevent orangutans from being wiped out. The species, known for its gentle temperament and intelligence, lives in the wild only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and on the island of Borneo, which is divided among Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. Bornean orangutans were this year declared critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation K PAKISTANI PREDICAMENT. Inam Khan, the owner of a bookshop in Pakistan, shows a copy of a magazine with the photograph of Afghan refugee woman Sharbat Gulla, from his rare collection in Islamabad, Pakistan. A Pakistani prosecutor says National Geographic’s famed green-eyed “Afghan Girl” has made her first appearance before a court, insisting she did not fraudulently obtain Pakistani nationality. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash) National Geographic’s famed “Afghan girl” denies getting fake ID PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani prosecutor says National Geographic’s famed green-eyed “Afghan Girl” has made her first appearance before a court, insist- ing she did not fraudulently obtain Pakistani nationality. Manzoor Aalam said Sharbat Gulla, during a court hearing, essentially retracted the confession that investigators say she made after her arrest. She was detained in the northwestern city of Peshawar on charges of holding a fake Pakistani identity card. Gulla was an Afghan refugee when she gained worldwide fame in 1984 after war photographer Steve McCurry’s photograph of her, with piercing green eyes, was published on the cover of National Geographic. McCurry found her again in Afghanistan in 2002. She surfaced in Pakistan in 2014, but went into hiding when Pakistani authorities accused her of buying a fake Pakistani identity card. MIKASA MOURNED. Japanese Prince Mikasa, right, and his wife, Princess Yuriko, left, talk at their residence in Tokyo, in this Novem- ber 16, 2015 file photo. The younger brother of former Japanese Em- peror Hirohito has died at the age of 100. The Imperial Household Agency announced that Prince Mikasa died at a hospital in Tokyo. (Imperial Household Agency of Japan via AP, File) Younger brother of former Emperor Hirohito dies at age 100 TOKYO (AP) — The younger brother of former Japanese Emperor Hirohito has died at the age of 100. The Imperial Household Agency announced that Prince Mikasa died at a hospital in Tokyo. Japanese media reports say he had been hospitalized since May, initially because of pneumonia. Citing unnamed sources, they say his condition took a sudden turn for the worse. Prince Mikasa was born on December 2, 1915. He is the uncle of the current Emperor Akihito and was fifth in line to the throne. His brother, Hirohito, reigned for more than 60 years, during World War II and until his death in 1989. WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE. Activists open a cage to release a rehabilitated orangutan back into the wild at Kehje Sewen forest in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, in this October 19, 2016 im- age made from video. Five Bornean orangutans were released into their natural habitat by the Bor- neo Orangutan Survival Foundation after years-long rehabilitation from trauma often inflicted by people. (AP Photo) of Nature due to hunting for their Borneo that it bought from the meat, which kills 2,000 to 3,000 per government in 2011 for 12.9 billion year, and destruction of tropical Indonesian rupiah ($1.5 million at forests for plantation agriculture. the time), though it says only about The only other orangutan species, the 20 to 25 percent of it is suitable Sumatran orangutan, is found only orangutan habitat. “We looked for a place to release on Sumatra and has been critically them that is very far away from endangered since 2008. The conservation group estimates people. We hope that very few people the number of Bornean orangutans will come to this area in the next 10 or has dropped by nearly two-thirds 15 years,” said Sihite. since the early 1970s and will further “Nowadays there [are] only a few of decline to 47,000 animals by 2025. that kind of area left — far away and Some conservationists are even more really difficult to reach.” pessimistic, predicting extinction in The foundation has released 234 the wild within 10 years. orangutans since 2012. It says 90 per- The species is protected in Indone- cent of those releases are successful. sia and Malaysia, but deforestation It typically takes years to return an has dramatically shrunk its habitat, orangutan to the wild. Finding a with about 40 percent of Borneo’s suitable location is challenging, as is forests lost since the early 1970s and rehabilitating orangutans so they can another huge swath of forest expected survive when returned to natural to be converted to plantation agricul- habitat. ture in the next decade. J-lo was born in captivity in 2006 The Borneo Orangutan Survival and had to learn survival skills such Foundation, one of several groups as nest building, identifying preda- focused on orangutan conservation, tors, and foraging. has 60-year concession rights to Kent, also recently released, was about 212,000 acres of forest in Continued on page 7 SLOW INTERNET? GET EXEDE! STARTING AT 49 99 $ MONTH q Cambodia’s first post-Khmer Rouge premier dies at age 80 PHNOM PEHN, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s former Prime Minister Pen Sovann, who was installed then imprisoned by the Vietnamese after they defeated the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, has died. He was 80 years old. 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