Five slow lorises have been returned to the wild into a protected forest of Gunung Tarak. The slow lorises are called Bulan, Lana, Honey, Jejes and John and had previously been kept as pets.
The five lorises were released after Melky the orangutan was set free into the same park.
Their journey consisted of a 4 hour car journey followed by a 4.5 hour walk to the release site. 12 local residents worked as porters to transport the animals in their transportation cages to the release points.
The released slow lorises will be monitored by our monitoring staff. As slow lorises are nocturnal, the team monitoring them will work by night and sleep by day. “Monitoring is a vital part of the rehabilitation and release process. It is carried out to ensure the released animals thrive when they are back in the wild. It also gives the medical team the chance to step in and give treatment to an animal if necessary,” explained Argitoe Ranting, our Release and Monitoring Manager.
Sadtata Noor, Head of the West Kalimantan BKSDA, expressed his appreciation of the release operation, saying: “We’re well aware that the government can’t carry out this type of conservation activity on its own and needs the support and cooperation of partners like IAR Indonesia. We hope that, by raising awareness in the community, we can eventually stop people from keeping rare or protected animals like orangutans or slow lorises as pets.”
Watch the moment one of the slow lorises climbs free into their new environment.