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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1067297/Sitting-pretty-longer-The-barrow-load-orphaned-baby-orang-utans.html
[with a photo gallery]

Sitting pretty, but for how much longer? The barrow-load of orphaned
baby orang-utans

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 7:53 PM on 03rd October 2008

The mode of transport could best be described as basic.

But these eight young orangutans can hardly complain - as the purpose
of their trip is to secure their survival.

Orphaned by Man's folly, they are unable to rely on their parents to
teach them the ways of the animal world. So every day at the rescue
centre which is their home, they are wheeled into the forest to learn.

Gilly Lloyd, who runs the project for Borneo Orangutan Survival
International, said: 'We keep them for up to eight years.

'Most of them are found as orphaned babies and have to be totally
rehabilitated with 24-hour care. Every day they go into the forest to
learn how to be orangutans.'

Their plight is down to the clearance of rainforest, poaching and the
illegal pet trade.

The charity cares for 670 of the endangered apes. As campaigners mark
World Habitat Day today, Miss Lloyd told how they are returned to the
wild.

At the age of about eight, groups of 25 to 30 are taken to
neighbouring islands to learn how to fend for themselves. After 18
months, they are flown to a protected rainforest and monitored by
scientists.

'We keep them at the centre for up to eight years,' says Gilly.

'Most of them are found as orphaned babies and they have to be totally
rehabilitated with 24-hour care.

'Everyday they are taken out into the forest to learn how to become
orang-utans."

The ultimate goal of BOS is the release of healthy and rehabilitated
orang-utans back into protected forest.

Under the watchful eye of founder manager Lone Droscher-Nielsen these
orang-utans undergo a gradual rehabilitation programme to equip them
with the skills necessary for a life in the wild.

'When they get to about eight years of age we take them in groups of
25-30 to one of of a number of neighbouring islands,' explains Gilly.

'That is the first stage in releasing them back into the wild. The
whole reason for our being there is to nurture them, rehabilitate
them, send them back into the wild so they can procreate and keep the
species going.

'They stay on the island for 18 months. After that they are able to
fend for themselves and then we fly them to a protected area of rain
forest in Borneo where they are monitored by scientists.'