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.
He was the country’s first post-Khmer Rouge prime
minister from June to December 1981, when the country
was known as the People’s Republic of Kampuchea.
Continued on page 13
CALL TODAY!
BLUE TIDE SATELLITE & INTERNET
503-278-5926
One-time standard installation fee may be charged at the time of sale. Minimum 24-month service term. Monthly service fee, equipment lease fee and taxes apply. Speeds are “up to,” are not guaranteed and will vary.
Service is not available in all areas. Offer may be changed or withdrawn at any time. Exede is a registered service mark of ViaSat, Inc.