Orangutan Conservation Charities

 
 

Orangutan conservation

Orangutans are in a critical state.   They need all the help they can get as their habitat disappears.  And there are a number of orangutan conservation charities who are working furiously to help these beautiful animals and lots of ways you can get involved and make a difference.

Here’s a round-up of some orangutan conservation charities:

The Orangutan Foundation

The Orangutan Foundation works to protect forest habitat, working with local communities and promoting research and education.   They’ve been working in Indonesia for over 20 years.  Ways to help include getting involved with:

  • Orangutan Caring Week in November
  • doing some recycling
  • taking part in their Orangutan Foundation Volunteer Programme which involves working in orangutan habitat
  • adopting an orangutan
  • donating to protect an acre of orangutan habitat

Why not sponsor an acre of orangutan habitat?
Why not sponsor an acre of orangutan habitat?
©Orangutan Foundation

Orangutan Appeal UK 

Based in the South East of England, this charity is dedicated to the rehabilitation and preservation of orangutans and the conservation of their habitat.  They provide support and funding for projects across Malaysian and Indonesian Borneo, and they work on behalf of the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre.  The centre was founded in 1964 to rehabilitate orphan orangutans and the 43 sq km site is home to between 60 and 80 orangutans who live at the end of the Kabili Sepilok Forest Reserve.  You could become a business partner, adopt a baby orangutan or donate. 

Adopt an orangutan
Adopt an orangutan
©Orangutan Appeal UK

Orangutan Foundation International (OFI)

The OFI is dedicated to the conservation of wild orangutans and their rainforest habitat.  It supports research on orangutans and forests, education initiatives, both local and international, and brings awareness concerning orangutans.

  • Rescue, rehabilitation and release
  • Forest protection
  • Community programme
  • Research

Ways to help include:  being  a Construction Volunteer, doing volunteering at the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine, becoming a member, making a donation, going on an eco-tour and becoming a foster parent.

International Animal Rescue

Their team work in West Kalimantan to rescue and care for baby orangutans.  They also have a human-orangutan conflict team which helps orangutans who have been stranded after their homes have been destroyed and moves them to safe forest areas.  Animals who can’t survive in the wild are given a home at the centre.   The charity want to rescue and rehabilitate as many orangutans as possible.

Ways to help include

  • Giving a virtual gift such as bunch of bananas, a wheelbarrow, fruit baskets, tyre swings – or plant a tree!
  • Adopting an orangutan
  • Making a donation

 

Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme

The organisation has a mission :  to save and protective captive and wild Sumatran (Pongo abelii) and Tapanuli (Pongo tapanuliensis) orangutans and their rainforest habitat.  They aim to do this through science-based conservation, establishing new wild populations, advocacy, education and awareness building.  They work in the Batang Toru ecosystem, where the Tapanuli orangutan was discovered recently.   Donations are needed to help pay for projects such as habitat porteciton, rehabilitation projects and the orphan care centre.

Orangutan Project (Australia)

The project is dedicated to saving the orangutan and it’s led by experienced wildlife experts who have been working for over 20 years to protect orangutans.

Ways to help include:

  • Adopt
  • Donate
  • Take an orangutan adventure
  • Donate to their Save Forest programme which provides Wildlife Protection Units, orangutan rescue units and wardens
  • Plant a tree
  • Become a member

 

 

Palm Oil & orangutans