{"id":48232,"date":"2026-06-23T16:29:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paneco.ch\/?p=48232"},"modified":"2026-10-12T12:47:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T12:47:48","slug":"three-decades-of-the-sumatran-orangutan-conservation-programme-socp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paneco.ch\/en\/three-decades-of-the-sumatran-orangutan-conservation-programme-socp\/","title":{"rendered":"Three decades of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme SOCP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How did you come to work with orangutans?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a small child, I was a birdwatcher, and as a teenager I became very interested in reptiles and amphibians, particularly snakes. I read the books of Gerald Durrell, who founded Jersey Zoo on the British Channel Islands with the aim of protecting endangered species. My goal was to work one day at this world-leading zoo. After graduating with a degree in environmental science, I initially worked at several zoos in the UK. I worked mainly with carnivores and ungulates. Then, in 1989, I finally got the opportunity to work at Jersey Zoo \u2013 with orangutans and gorillas. Over time, I developed a deep fascination for orangutans. Unlike the other great apes such as gorillas and chimpanzees, orangutans are not very social. As a result, their behaviour is less obvious and understandable to us humans. What drives them? What influences their behaviour? Eventually, it became clear to me that they act, almost without exception, in their own interests. Once I had grasped that, their behaviour made perfect sense to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

\u00abOrangutans are less social than other great apes. That is why their behaviour is harder for us humans to understand than that of other great ape species.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Ian Singleton OBE
Senior Advisor, PanEco<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n


During my time at Jersey Zoo, I travelled to Indonesia several times to observe orangutans in the wild. After meeting primatologists such as Dr Carel van Schaik, I decided to leave the world of zoos. In 1996, I moved to Sumatra to study wild orangutans in the swamp forests of Suaq Balimbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Has the situation for orangutans on Sumatra changed since then?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first came to Indonesia in the early 1990s, vast areas of forest were still being cleared legally and converted into oil palm plantations. On Sumatra, this is no longer the case as most of the forest areas that were available for conversion have already been lost. Now clearing happens almost exclusively illegally. One example of where this happens is the Singkil Swamp Wildlife Reserve, which forms part of the Leuser Ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of orangutans kept illegally as pets also appears to be declining in Sumatra compared with the past, when deforestation was even more widespread. The orangutans that come to our Quarantine and Rehabilitation Centre are often the victims of conflicts between orangutans and humans. Where forests are cleared, orangutans often have no choice but to search for food in nearby gardens and plantations. In such situations, adult animals may be killed. If a young orangutan survives, it is taken away and kept as a pet or sold into the illegal wildlife trade. If the authorities confiscate the animal, it will be brought to our Quarantine and Rehabilitation Centre. Here we will prepare it for a second chance to live in the wild later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Many of the animals brought to the Quarantine and Rehabilitation Centre following confiscation are as small as this baby orangutan. It will stay at the Centre until it is around seven years old.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Have there been any significant changes in orangutan conservation over the past 30 years?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working closely with other conservationists and NGO\u2019s, we have succeeded in halting several infrastructure and energy projects that threatened orangutan habitats. Some palm oil companies that illegally burn peat swamp forests have been handed heavy fines following legal proceedings \u2013 the highest ever imposed in Indonesia. NGOs working in Sumatra are now also better equipped to combat illegal activities at all levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key change in recent years has been the increase in law enforcement. Until around 2010, arrests and prosecutions were very rare, and perpetrators very rarely faced any consequences. Today, criminal proceedings against individuals who harm orangutans or attempt to sell them are becoming increasingly common. Such cases attract a great deal of attention in the press and on social media, thereby acting as a deterrent. At the same time, we are observing a new trend: orangutans are increasingly being smuggled abroad, ending up, for example, in the Gulf states or even in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For young animals, there is a very high risk that they will be sold after a human-wildlife conflict and end up in the illegal wildlife trade. At the Quarantine and Rehabilitation Centre, they are given a second chance to one day live free in the rainforest.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Have you had any unforgettable encounters with orangutans?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a female orangutan called Selatan in Jersey Zoo. One day she surprised us all. We watched as she kept throwing pieces of bread towards a sparrow nearby. Each throw was a little shorter than the last, and the sparrow came closer and closer to pick up the breadcrumbs. Eventually, it was close enough for her to catch it. She had obviously planned this in advance and set a proper trap!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also remember a female, Mega, who lived in the swamp forests of Suaq Balimbing, where I was carrying out my research. Mega surprised us all on several occasions with so-called \u2018long calls\u2019 \u2013 loud, far-reaching calls that are normally only made by adult males.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A third example I remember well is the story of Udin \u2013 a particularly clever orangutan. He was released into the wild from our reintroduction centre in Jantho. But instead of venturing deeper into the forest, he seemed to be following the river downstream. A few days after his release, he was spotted in a village on the edge of the forest, under a house, where he was dismantling a motorbike engine piece by piece. When the team arrived to take him back to the reintroduction centre, they hadn\u2019t brought a transport crate for him. So, they simply put him on the back seat of their motorbike and rode all the way back to camp with the orangutan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The reintroduction centre is located deep within a protected forest. The road leading there has been deliberately left difficult to use so that as few people as possible can get there.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

If you had one wish, what would that be?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wish that people would realise how short-sighted the destruction of tropical rainforests worldwide is. It brings short-term profits to a handful of players, but in the long term destroys the economic and ecological potential of entire regions. Their destruction also exacerbates the climate crisis by releasing huge amounts of CO\u2082 into the atmosphere, which ultimately jeopardises our own future as a species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also wish that people would become more active when it comes to holding the responsible companies and individuals to account. Informed consumers and concerned citizens must build the necessary pressure to ensure that the business sector changes its current approach and guarantees that nature conservation and species protection are successful in the long term. We must take that responsibility seriously!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we clear rainforests, we are not only destroying the habitat of orangutans, but also our own habitat!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1997, the British conservationist Dr Ian Singleton founded the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme together with the president of the foundation PanEco, Regina Frey. In this interview, the orangutan expert looks back on 30 years of conservation efforts to protect orangutans and their habitat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[102,104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-orangutan-protection","category-paneco-en-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paneco.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paneco.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paneco.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paneco.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paneco.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48232"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/paneco.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48241,"href":"https:\/\/paneco.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48232\/revisions\/48241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paneco.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paneco.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paneco.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}