On 19 July 2024, an Orangutan Conservation Programme team discovered the female orangutan ‘Wenda’ with a baby she was carrying as she climbed in the trees not far from them. Apparently, the baby was well and healthy. Such an observation is a moving moment, not only for the Indonesian team. Everyone involved in our orangutan conservation programme was thrilled to see the new offspring. This is only the seventh baby we have seen from former patients since we have been carrying out reintroductions in the Jantho region. When orangutans reproduce, it means that they are doing well and are fully acclimatised to their new home. And it is a confirmation that our work is having an impact.

The eventful history of Wenda

The female orangutan Wenda was brought to our Quarantine and Rehabilitation Centre in October 2009. She was only one year old at the time, and she grew up at the Centre during the following years. In November 2013, Wenda was independent enough to be transferred to the Reintroduction Centre, where she was released in March 2014. However, in July 2015, the monitoring team realised that Wenda had fallen from a tree and had broken her ankle. Back in the province of North Sumatra, she went through a successful operation at Quarantine and Rehabilitation Centre. She was released again in the remote protected forest of Jantho in January 2016. Eight years after her release, in June 2024, the post-release monitoring team discovered that Wenda was seven to eight months pregnant. In July, the same team observed that she was carrying a baby.

A successful reintroduction

We have been reintroducing orangutans that have been freed from illegal pet ownership or injured in conflict with humans, in two protected areas on Sumatra since 2011. In our Quarantine and Rehabilitation Centre, the animals are nursed back to health. When they are ready for life in the rainforest, they will be released. So far, we have been able to achieve considerable success: We have reintroduced 134 orangutans to the rainforest in the Jantho region and as many as 211 in the Jambi region. With this program, we are establishing two new, stable orangutan populations in both protected areas, which will also serve as a safeguard for the conservation of the endangered Sumatran orangutans.