Helping Tapanuli Orangutans Thrive

The precious rainforests of Batang Toru in Sumatra are the only place in the world where Tapanuli orangutans are found in the wild, yet with fewer than 800 individuals remaining they are critically endangered.

One of our front line partners, the Human Orangutan Conflict Response Unit (HOCRU) have a team working on the ground in Batang Toru. 

HOCRU work to raise awareness with local communities as well as completing translocations, confiscations, evacuations and coordination with local authorities.

The Human Orangutan Conflict Response Unit Call Centre service plays a significant role in enabling orangutans and humans to be able to co-exist peacefully. The service connects people in conflict-prone areas to HOCRU teams who can investigate further and provide support. 

Not every call leads to orangutans. Most of the time, the team only finds traces such as nests or broken trees where orangutans have been foraging. Even when an orangutan is found it is not always necessary to perform a rescue. The first thing to do is to monitor the orangutan, and to see the possibility of driving them back into the forest without physical contact. This is exactly what happened at a village in Central Tapanuli recently. The HOCRU Team worked together with the government’s conservation authority, BKSDA, and the local community and drove the orangutan back into protected forest by using loud noises.

At the end of last year, the HOCRU Team received a male orangutan, aged 11 months. The infant orangutan was separated from his mother. He was found by two locals from a village in North Tapanuli. They reported to head of the village and then to police. The infant orangutan was brought to a rehabilitation centre for further care as young orangutans are usually dependent on thier mothers for the first 7-8 years of their life. This rescue would not have been possible without the support of BKSDA and the North Tapanuli Police Resort.