Please help save these amazing apes from extinction – they can’t save themselves!
Holly Thompson, Supervisor of Zoology
Young orangutans are illegally kept as pets. Their mothers are tragically killed, and their offspring sold to the illegal wildlife trade. By some wonder orangutans are still clinging to survival.
Their habitat is being destroyed by fires, cleared for palm oil plantations, timber and mining. They’ve lost over 80% of their natural habitat in the last two decades alone, and thousands lose their lives every year.
With fewer than 14,000 Sumatran Orangutans reported to remain in the wild, it is devastating that this number is still decreasing.
With your help, together we can step in now to bring incredible species like the orangutan back from the brink of extinction.
In The Wild
Opid was a small, 5-year-old male Sumatran Orangutan clinging to another orangutan and using him as a security blanket, when Holly first saw him on a trip to the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Project’s (SOCP) sanctuary.
He should have been learning how to live a life in the wild with his mother. Instead, his short life had already been full of fear.
Orangutans like Opid need intense rehabilitation and education at Jungle School in Sumatra for potentially years to be ready for release.
He wasn’t raised by his mother and never learnt the vital skills he needs to survive in the wild. First, he needs to learn to be independent in the jungle. Then he needs to learn the basics like how to build a secure nest in the trees to spend the night.
Your gift today will help wildlife survive. Just like the young and orphaned orangutans who go to Jungle School to be taught the skills to survive independently in the wild.
At Perth Zoo
Meanwhile the Perth Zoo team look after the eight resident orangutans in Jungle School right here at Perth Zoo.
This critical program in our own back yard is vital to the survival of this species.
It ensures a secure population of this threatened great ape is safe.
The team at Perth Zoo work tirelessly to ensure this precious species is preserved in the safest and most enriching environment we can provide.
Without the vital insurance population of this amazing species in safety at the zoo, we risk losing them forever.
Generous people like you can be part of saving wildlife species like these amazing apes too – because they can’t save themselves!