TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The International Animal Rescue (IAR) Indonesia in partnership with the West Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) successfully reintroduced six orangutans at Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park (TNBBBR) in Sintang District.

“The six orangutans we reintroduced into wilderness composed of rehabilitated orangutans, which include, for the first time, a mother and baby named Maily and Osin. They were released together with four other orangutans named Lady, Obi, Muria, and Zoya,” said IAR Program Director Karmele L Sanchez at Ketapang on Sunday, February 17.

The IAR team chose the TNBBBR as the final habitat for the orangutans after its survey saw that the forest was still fairly untouched by human activities and holds plenty of food sources. Its status as a national conservation park will significantly preserve the livelihood of the orangutans.

Read also: BKSDA: Most Orangutans Live Outside Preserved Forest

The team’s study suggests that the orangutans’ new home was absent of any orangutan population after the protected species was deemed extinct for the past 20-30 years.

“This is why the orangutan reintroduction program is crucial. Up to this day, IAR Indonesia reintroduced 36 orangutans since 2016,” he said. 2019 is scheduled to see three stages of orangutan reintroduction.

West Kalimantan BKSDA Head Sadtata Noor said wildlife conservationism has been met with increasing challenges from time to time and maintains that conservationism must never stop.

“The orangutan reintroduction today is a fight that must be endured and constantly won,” he said.

ANTARA