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Nita
N
ita is a beauty with long red, curly hair. She was
only 18 months old when she was remove a year
ago from a family in Central Kalimantan. Within
this family she was looked after as if she was their own
child. Inspite of all the love Nita received, she is still an
orangutan who belongs in the forest; it is only there that
she can be happy, find friends and live an orangutan life.
On the 13th November 2008, the communication team
at the Central Kalimantan Orangutan Reintroduction
­Program at Nyaru Menteng received letter from the
­Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) that two
orangutans were living in Sampit, Central Kalimantan. The
rescue and confiscation team, which included ­Fransiska
(a vet), Tuta (in charge of Communication), Nandany
(BKSDA), and Ujang (the driver), prepared everything
­immediately. They loaded the rescue cage onto the car
and set off to save the young orangutans in question.
The family which had Nita made quite a good impression;
it seemed as though their baby orangutan had been quite
well cared for. Some people in Indonesia keep orangutans
as pets and care for them as if they were their own babies.
As orangutans belong in the forest, they are not meant
to be handled as pets. Luckily, after a short explanation
the family understood the situation. They voluntarily
handed the little orangutan over to the team with the­
­explanation that they would be ‘sad to see their “baby”
... grow up without any friends.’ They had named the
­female ­orangutan ‘Nita’; she looked well cared for and
the family told the rescue team that they had ­showered
Nita everyday.
Nita was returned to PROKT – Nyaru menteng where they
had health checks. The vet estimated that Nita was 18
months old. She weighed 6 kg. To prevent any possible
spread of disease, she was placed in quarantine for two
weeks. After being quarantined, and when all her test
­results proved to be negative, she was allowed into baby
school.
In baby school Nita had to be placed with the youngest
orangutans as she had no climbing skills whatsoever. It
also turned out that it was very difficult to feed her as
she had been used to eating cake and drinking tea whilst
she had lived in Sampit. Since she arrived, Nita has only
put on 3 kg as she won’t entertain much of the orangutan
food.
She now weighs 9 kg. Nita avoids the other orangutans
and stays with her human babysitter all day long. It will be
hard work for the babysitters to rehabilitate her. However
Nyaru Menteng’s babysitters are up to the challenge.
www.orangutan.or.id