GRADUATION TO FREEDOM

It was a moment we all have been waiting for. Three of our beloved adoption family members recently took a huge step on their rehabilitation journey. 

Taymur and Jelapat moved to Badak Besar Island to tackle the pre-release stage of their rehabilitation, and Cinta returned home to the rainforest. She is now roaming free in the Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park. 

What a journey it has been for the three of them! We couldn’t be more proud of each one. They had to overcome tremendous challenges in their young lives, and it is easy to forget what they have endured when you see them now, grown into confident adolescents with strong personalities. 

A long journey home
Taymur’s story gained worldwide attention after the BOS Foundation had worked tirelessly for months with several authorities through the Indonesian Embassy in Kuwait to repatriate the at that time two-year-old male. The poor infant was illegally smuggled to Kuwait and kept as a pet.  

Luckily, local police discovered him following a traffic accident involving his captor, who was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident. The journey back home to Borneo took 30 hours, and we are still in awe of Taymur’s unbelievable strength and resilience to come this far against all odds. 

Veterinarian Arga Sawung Kusuma recalls that initially, Taymur only liked human foods, and when he first arrived, he was remarkably affectionate, perhaps due to his challenging past. “He had a tendency to approach us, often seeking comfort by hanging around our necks.” 

Dressed like a human baby
Jelapat shares a similar trauma with Taymur. He was also illegally kept as a pet by a local villager in Central Kalimantan. The resident claimed to have found him wandering, alone and weak, in a gold-mining area. Forest fires devastated the area around that time, and his mother undoubtedly perished in the fires or was killed intentionally by humans.  

The resident took the baby home and named him Jelapat. He kept the little orangutan in a small cage on the side of a busy road, dressed him in baby clothing and gave him rice and side dishes to eat. It must have been a terrifying experience for the little male. 

Siri, his surrogate mother, remembers Jelapat crying in forest school when he was late for milk and fruit. He often went home early to his sleeping cage and always hid and ran away. On the other hand, Siris says, “he liked learning something new, for example, eating termites. He would seriously pay attention”. 

The vet team and surrogate mothers are confident that Taymur and Jelapat will adapt perfectly to island life and, no doubt, will graduate to freedom with flying colours – like our sweet Cinta.  

Cinta is exploring her new home in the Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park.

Drum solos in the jungle
Do you remember Cinta’s washing habits and drum solos from Orangutan Jungle School? Now, her beats will resound through the Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park. In December 2023, we released her together with Liti, Ojes, Wanto, Fajar, Fathia, Lala and Tomang to her true wild home. 

Finally, Cinta’s life has come full circle, from a tiny and shivering five-month-old baby found on an area of land cleared by a palm oil company to a brilliant and skilled student in forest school who is now ready to tackle her life in the wild again.  

And she even has an admirer already: Wanto. Our post-release monitoring team spotted the two following each other around, eating and building nests together. Will they help us increase the Bornean orangutan population by raising the number of wild-born babies among our released orangutans to 35? Stay tuned. 

Unfortunately, we can’t release all orangutans in our care. But, whenever possible, we move them to Sanctuary Islands, where they can live a semi-wild life, well taken care of by the BOS Foundation staff – and by you! You can help the enrichment team hands-on by joining one of our volunteer tours. Check out the new available start dates from October 2024 to March 2025.