Rickina's story is a not an uncommon one. She was rescued in late 2012 from a man who claimed that he had encountered a mother orangutan with her baby in the forest, and that the mother was so startled that she abandoned the baby and ran away. The man said he picked up the baby, and in doing so, apparently caused a gaping wound on her head with his machete. A mother orangutan will never leave her infant behind and will fight to the death to protect her baby, so we know her story is extremely tragic and she bears the physical and mental scars of losing her mother.
Rickina was taken to the International Animal Rescue's orangutan care centrre in Ketapang, West Kalimantan, Borneo. A wonderful team of medical staff and carers began the slow process of rehabiliation required to prepare her for her eventual return to freedom.
Shortly after Rickina came to the centre another orphaned orangutan, Rocky, was surrendered to the Ketapang Forestry Department. He was extremely malnourished, making him appear much younger than his actual age, and his carers were concerned about his health. He had little hair and his head looked far too big for his body.
Orangutan babies and human babies have the same intelligence until the reach about 5 years old. They both experience the same feelings of hunger, fear and loneliness. They both require a lot of care to prepare them for the real world.
Quite surprisingly Rocky started to do very well after a short time in the centre, and more so when he was paired in the same cage as Rickina. After a short time the two infants bonded very closely. They are now the very best of friends and will grip onto each other closely during their days in jungle school.
With time and dedicated care, Rickina's health and confidence improved. She became more independent of Rocky, however they still clung to each other if they felt anxious. Her new found confidence helped her socialisation skills and she began to enjoy playing with other orangutans in the centre.
Jungle School is an essential part of preparation for orphanded orangutans to enable them to survive in the forest. Jungle School teaches infant orangutans how to climb, build nests to sleep and identify foods to eat. Rickand got a lot better at climbing, often using the rubber ropes to bounce on before landing on other orangutans below her. Orangutans sleep in nests they build in the tree canopy, every night they will build a new nest to sleep in and Rickina became of the best nest builders in the centre - her nests seemed to be considered so good by the other orangutans that they would quite happily use them after she has vacated them. Rickina’s skills and her nature made her a prime candidate for future release.
In exciting news, Rickina has recently moved to Setrum Island so she can develop her forest skills and become used to living like a wild orangutan. She is very good at making friends with new orangutans and has a lot of friends there, including Rocky who she has been reunited with!
Rickina is quite dominant and can become quite protective of her friends. Sometimes, if someone comes close to one of her friends, or she thinks they are in danger, Rickina will get a bit angry and chase the culprit away.
Rickina has shown a lot of progress since moving to Setrum Island and is becoming much more independent. She is now building nests and searching for natural foods in the forest. Rickina is learning a lot about how to survive in the forest. She will continue to build on this knowledge throughout the rehabilitation process until she is ready to be released back into the wild.
The cost of rescue, rehabilitation and post-release monitoring is expensive. The cost of not funding their care is obvious.
Rickina has a bright future, a future of freedom in protected forests. Other infants are still being rescued and need our help. The Orangutan Project needs your help - an adoption or small monthly donation will help save orphaned orangutans and give them the chance Rickina has had to be free.
The Orangutan Project has a holistic approach to conservation, we don’t just rescue orangutans. Our conservation philosophy is:
Secure • Protect • Rescue, rehabilitate, release • Education and Empowerment.
We're not asking you to trust us that it will work. We know it will work because we’ve been successfully growing our projects over the past decade. The Orangutan Project is the world leader in it's approach to orangutan conservation. Our donors have already enabled us to direct over USD$10million into saving the orangutan.
Here are some our recent achievements over the past 12 months: