Orangutan Rescue and Rehabilitation

Project Summary

In the rainforests of Borneo, our Indonesian partners, YIARI (Yayasan IAR Indonesia) are leading a life-saving mission to rescue, rehabilitate and rewild some of the world’s last remaining orangutans. Every orangutan they save has its own story, often found orphaned, injured, or traumatised after being taken from the wild or displaced by industrial scale deforestation.

YIARI’s team of vets and carers give these vulnerable animals a second chance: nurturing them back to health, teaching them survival skills in a purpose built rehabilitation centre, and when they’re ready, releasing them into protected rainforest habitats where they can thrive.

This is one of the most impactful orangutan rescue programmes in the world. It’s not just about saving individuals, it’s about rebuilding wild populations and protecting the future of a critically endangered species.

Local Partner: YIARI

Project Aims and Impact:

The Orangutan Conservation Centre

In 2013, with our local partners YIARI, we established the first orangutan rescue and rehabilitation centre in West Kalimantan, in the village of Sungai Awan. Set within over 150 hectares of secondary and peat swamp forest, it’s the ideal place for rescued orangutans to learn the skills they need for life in the wild.

The centre includes:

A state-of-the-art veterinary clinic
Quarantine and recovery zones
Nursery, forest ‘school’ and four pre-release forest islands
A guesthouse for visiting researchers
The base for YIARI’s outreach and conservation programmes

Here, rescued orangutans begin their journey to recovery in a setting designed to mirror the wild as closely as possible.

Rescue: Emergency Action with Local Communities

Orangutan rescues are only carried out as a last resort, when every effort to keep an animal in the wild has failed. YIARI’s teams are alerted by conservation authorities (BKSDA), community members, their Orangutan Protection Units, or local prevention groups.

Each rescue is carried out with care:

A veterinary assessment is done on-site
Orangutans are microchipped and health-checked
Wild individuals may be translocated immediately if safe to do so
Confiscated pets and injured individuals are brought to the centre for rehabilitation

This work is done in close collaboration with local authorities and with the support of people living near orangutan habitats, many of whom are trained and employed as part of the solution.

Rehabilitation: Learning to Live Wild Again

Baby orangutans stay with their mothers for up to eight years in the wild, learning everything they need to survive. At the centre, orphaned orangutans are nurtured by skilled carers and when ready are introduced to a surrogate orangutan ‘mother’ who teaches them how to climb, forage, build nests, and recognise threats. Every step mirrors the wild as closely as possible to prepare them for life on their own.

Quarantine

As soon as orangutans arrive at YIARI’s rehabilitation centre, they are placed in quarantine for eight weeks. Orangutans are closely related to humans and they are susceptible to many human diseases. As almost all the rescued orangutans come from human-dominated landscapes, disease transmission is a serious risk and there is a possibility of such diseases spreading throughout the centre.
Baby School

Young orangutans attend baby school, where they spend time in their own forest enclosure and are encouraged to live more independently, making nests, spending more time off the ground and foraging for their own food. They are also encouraged to spend the night in the forest, although they always allow orangutans back in to the night cages if that is what they prefer.
Forest School

Forest school follows on from baby school. The orangutans have already gained independence from their keepers and spend more time alone or with other orangutans. They stay in the forest overnight and are encouraged to build nests at night to sleep in. All orangutans at YIARI’s centre in the final stages of rehabilitation are monitored, and data is collected and later analysed and compared to data from wild orangutans, to select the most appropriate candidates for release.
Pre-release Island

After graduation from forest school, orangutans are moved to one of four islands. These islands are bordered by fences or moats and mimic, as much as possible, wild forest into which the orangutans will eventually be released. Here they develop their nest building and foraging skills and are monitored from dawn to dusk. The most competent and independent orangutans are selected for release.