Six Sumatra Orang-Utans to be released into Jambi National Park

Antara 17 Feb 08;

Jambi (ANTARA News) - Six Sumatra orang-utans (Pongo pigmaeus abelii) from the Sumatra Orang-Utan Quarantine Center in Batu Mbelin Village, Sibolangit Subdistrict, Deli Serdang, North Sumatra province, were scheduled to arrive at Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park (TNBT) in Tebo Regency, Jambi, on February 19, 2008.

They are leaving North Sumatra for their destination by land on February 18, 2008, and were slated to arrive in Tebo regency on the following day, Head of the Jambi Province Natural Reserve Conservation Institute (BKSDA) Agung Setyabudi said in Jambi on Sunday.

The government has turned the Jambi-Riau TNBT into a protection and breeding ground of the Sumatra orang-utan.

Previously the six orang-utans were quarantined for 20 months at the Sumatra Orang-Utan Quarantine Center of the North Sumatra Lestari Ecosystem Foundation (YEL).

The six big apes as confiscated objects of the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) Natural Reserve Conservation Agency (BKSDA) are called Ahmad (13), Mopi and Deknong (8), Cut and Yanti (6), and Anjeli (5).

The six orang-utans will bring the total number of orang-utans set free into the Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park to 100.

It was estimated that only 6,500 Sumatra orang-utans still survived today and are living in the Leuser exosystem area and in the Batangtoru protected forests in North Sumatra. (*)