Rescue Orangutan Amalia
Once kept in a barren metal cage, the female is on her way to be fully free
Amalia, born in 2011, was rescued in 2017 along with Eska from a private zoo that was shut down by authorities. They were held together in one cage. She was less scared than Eska but avoided eye contact like a wild orangutan. Over the years, she has become more trusting of her foster parents.
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The next steps
After bonding with her new foster parents she was ready for the next chapter and Amalia was moved to the Forest School. Almost immediately she took to sleeping in the forest. While Eska preferred to sleep in his sleeping compartment for several months more, Amalia built nights nests in the canopy and slept under the stars. She also knew much about foods available in the forest, but she had to readjust moving about in the trees. Clearly she had gained weight and grown since she had been captured and stuck in a cage!
Knowledgeable and mature
With her now 12 years, teenager Amalia is the oldest pupil at the ORANGUTAN FOREST SCHOOL. She is also the most knowledgeable and the most mature. She prefers to spend her time alone and no longer comes to cuddle with her caregivers who are now more body guards than parents to her. A few times she has given them the slip and spent time on her own before deigning to be found again – usually in a patch of nice forest fruit. Recently she has also become interested in small orangutans, and she has a lot of tolerance for 5-year old Gerhana, who is even permitted to steel food from her.
Amalia really loves to make big nests in the trees! And on the ground… she likes to roll her body like an orangutan beach ball!
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Updates
Waiting for the right time to rehome
The rehoming of Eska and Amalia is sadly taking longer than expected due several factors, such as heavy flooding close to the release area, unavailability of the helicopter needed to bring the orangutans safely to the area, and elections that have been followed by the period of fasting in Indonesia. But we are prepared for the right moment waiting to get the green light.
Amalia, like Eska, has already undergone a pre-release health check to ensure that she is completely healthy, and she has received a telemetry sender device in order to find her in case she gets lost. We hope we can provide good news soon and we are positive that with your wonderful support – for which thank you very much – that we will succeed soon in bringing Amalia and Eska back home to the jungle in which they belong.
First to join the Forest School
Together, Eska and Amalia are the first candidates to be moved to the release site this year. At the release site, Amalia will encounter roughly 60% of the forest foods she knows from the Forest School, but 40% she has to learn new. During this transition period she will again be guided by her caregivers. Once she knows the new foods and her way about the release site, we can consider her fully mature and release her back into the freedom of her natural habitat.
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