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IAR rescues 3 year old Dio, a male orangutan with a bullet in his eye.

30th October 2014

On 28th October our rescue team accompanied by BKSDA (Forestry Dept) and The Police went to Desa Sukagaria, Marau where they rescued a 3-year-old male orangutan called Dio.

The owner was keeping Dio as a pet, even though he knew that it is illegal to keep orangutans after he was made to surrender another orangutan five years previously. He explained that five hunters had killed Dio’s mother when he was a baby and they wanted to eat them both. In order to save the little orangutan he paid the hunters 500.000 Indonesian Rupiah (£25).

He had been keeping Dio in a wooden cage until it could not contain him anymore and broke. Dio was then chained around the neck to a big stick at the front of the house and could be seen by anyone who walked along the street. He was living with other animals, mostly exotic birds, and was fed with rice, noodles, fruits and milk.

The rescue team were concerned at the poor condition of Dio. He had signs of flu, which the owner said he had in the past and he had treated with mixagrip, an over the counter remedy. Dio also has a bullet in his left eye, probably from the weapon that was used to kill his mother.

Dio is now in our care at our centre in Ketapang where he is going through quarantine before he can join the other orangutans to start his rehabilitation process. Amazingly after his sad start in life he has a very sweet nature and enjoys the company of his human careers. He is settling in well in his very large cage and keeps very active climbing on his ropes and playing with his enrichment. He has already had his first round of health checks. The bullet in Dio’s eye has already been there for two years and although he is blind is this eye, the bullet does not seem to be causing any other medical problems. If any problems occur from it then the medical team will look at removing it.