Daily trips into the rehabilitation forest are a gentle introduction to the wild for the young orphaned orangutans being raised at OFI’s Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine (OCCQ), established by Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas in 1998. The youngsters initially play on a human-made jungle gym in the forest  but soon wander into the area of thick but relatively short trees directly around it, constantly within sight of the caregivers on whom they still depend. But [...]

In the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine, there is a very pretty little girl called Lia, a determined three year old orangutan toddler with a strong personality and a quick, clever mind. Lia is cuddly, adorable and sweet; she can melt your heart in an instant.  Sometimes when walking through the forest out on release, somebody small and hairy will, all of a sudden, hug my leg and I know that when I look down, [...]

It was a busy summer for the three Malayan Sun Bears (Helarctos malayanus) at the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine(OCCQ). In a quiet corner of the grounds, there was “action” every day for almost two months. This was the result of several dedicated long term volunteers and staff, changing ideas into reality, to make life better for these rescued animals. Change began earlier in the year when a brand new enclosure was built by volunteer [...]