Cetah

Cetah

A little about Cetah

Cetah is the oldest member of the school (too old in fact). She was confiscated in Jakarta and transported by plane to Palangka Raya arriving in May 2001. She was approximately three years old with the most gorgeous long, dense, deep red coat of hair. She had the saddest face we have ever seen. Because she was terrified with other orangutans we put her in babyschool to learn socialising. Unfortunately Cetah is totally ignorant of other orangutans and will rarely play with them. She spends most of her time sitting in a nice comfortable hollow in the ground, sucking her thumb and looking sad. Occasionally she will take to the trees and stay for an hour or so, but normally in the same tree on a comfortable branch from which she can reach the fruit or flowers she might have found. Since her arrival she has hardly put on any weight and have long bouts of diarrhea and refusing to and drink. Occasionally she will have a few days where she eats and drinks well, climbs and likes to be tickled… then she is back to the old routine again. She is extremely gentle and we try to give her all the love and attention she can possibly want, but obviously she has some serious traumas from her capture and possibly from her previous captivity and they need to be overwon before she is able to learn to act as a normal orangutan. We will keep Cetah in babyschool until we feel she is over her trauma and her physical condition is more stable… despite her age.