Orangutan Diary (2007) s02e02 Episode Script
Series 2, Episode 2
MICHAELA: This week on Orangutan Diary.
(PEOPLE CALLING OUT) The rescue team had to think fast when a powerful male decides he'd rather not be rescued.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) We meet irresistible orphans, Peanut and Pickle, enjoying the best medicine there is.
We sort of have a little rule of thumb here that you have to make them laugh for at least half an hour a day.
Is that so funny? (SQUEAKS) MICHAELA: And after a terrifying fall, Sumanto, already weakened by illness, fights for his life.
Can you Can you get oxygen? There doesn't seem to be any oxygen.
(ORANGUTANS CHATTERING) Is that so funny? MICHAELA: Lone Droscher Nielson runs the biggest ape rescue operation in the world.
The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation cares for over 600 rescued and confiscated orangutans.
Babies in nursery needing 24-hour care, orphans in Forest School learning the skills they'll need in the wild and older orangutans, who've graduated to the river islands, and are almost ready for release.
Their homes are destroyed so fast, they face extinction.
But the team here do everything they can to rescue, care for and return orangutans to the few safe places left in the wild.
But the wild is a long way off for the most vulnerable orangutans at the centre.
They still have a lot to learn.
The youngest orangutans in Lone's care live in a nursery group and this is where they spend the night, all snuggled in these baskets, looking hopelessly cute.
(SQUEALING) Lone used to have the nursery group in her own house, but permanently having a group of full-on babies took its toll and, after years of sleepless nights, they've been moved next door, so at least she can get a little bit of peace and quiet.
(MICHAELA CHUCKLING) Do you mind? (ORANGUTAN CHATTERING) It's 6:30 and they've been up for a while.
They've had their breakfast and they're all set to go out for a day in nursery school.
Every one of these tiny orphans had a tragic start in life.
Fortunately, they're too young to remember the loss of their mothers and, in these small groups, they can slowly gain confidence and get the love and attention their own mothers would have lavished on them.
This particular group is home to two of Lone's favourites, Peanut and Pickle.
This little one here is Peanut, as you can see, she's not bigger than that.
I picked her up at a palm oil plantation where, they say, that they found her with blood all over her, but the mother was not there.
I'm sure the mother is dead.
And they called us like on a late afternoon, panicky because they found her with blood and thinking she might have some injuries.
(ORANGUTAN SQUEAKING) Pickle was more or less the same, palm oil plantation.
Both Peanut and Pickle were still toothless when we got them, that means they were less than three months old.
MICHAELA: When their forest is replaced by plantation, hungry adults can damage the oil palms and are considered a pest.
Even though it's illegal, hunters hired to protect the crop put a bounty on their heads and the orphaned babies are often taken illegally as pets.
They'll all need five or six years of care, but, at this age, their needs are simple.
The most important thing here, definitely, is love and attention.
(ORANGUTANS SQUEAKING) Lots of cuddles, making them laugh.
We sort of have a little rule of thumb here that you have to make them laugh for at least half an hour a day.
MICHAELA: From the moment they first climb to the day they start Forest School, from their graduation to the islands, until they're grown and waved off into the wild, Lone will be there.
Without mothers of their own, this is their family now.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) The work of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation doesn't stop at the gates of the centre.
They respond to calls from a huge area of Borneo, confiscating orangutans held illegally as pets and rescuing those in danger from people.
STEVE: Once the rescue team are out and about, they have to be fully self-sufficient because they can be out there for days, so they bring everything with them.
You've got the cage to, obviously, hold the orangutans in, the dart gun going in there, so they can dart the orangutans up in the trees, first-aid kits, everything.
And one essential bit of kit, jungle footwear, with one essential modification.
Look, this hasn't happened by accident.
The water normally is up to here, so there's no point wearing wellies without drainage holes.
The 4x4 will get the team so far, but rain quickly turns Borneo's dirt roads to mud.
Rivers are often the only way to get around.
(PEOPLE CHATTING) The rescue team are on their way to a remote village, where an orangutan is in danger of being killed by the local people.
Generations of people in Borneo have made a meagre income from natural products that jungle provides.
And, until recently, the forest was big enough for orangutans and humans to share its riches.
But with 90% of its habitat now destroyed, there is increasing conflict.
Many villagers, already on the poverty line, now have to deal with hungry orangutans forced to flee the destruction of their forests and disrupting people's modest livelihoods.
The dripping sap from these trees is boiled to make rubber.
It takes days to collect, but it's too tempting for desperate orangutans, who drink from the cups, destroying hours of hard work.
Some people can't afford any loss of earnings and would illegally kill an orangutan to protect their livelihood.
A frustrated villager rang the centre, asking the rescue team to take the orangutan away.
The team need to deal with the situation before it becomes desperate, finding and moving the threatened animal away from danger before it's deliberately hurt.
Is that orangutan? Where is it? Someone's seen something up ahead.
(WATER SPLASHING) Where? Where? But, after a race through the jungle, the team discovers something none of them were prepared for.
(MAN SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) There are actually two orangutans, a male and a female.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) (CHUCKLES) Yeah, two.
Not one.
STEVE: It's rare to see adult orangutans together in the wild, unless they're courting.
So, if this couple are soon to start a family, it's important the team get them both to safety.
But they can only dart one at a time.
(SCREECHING) Now they really have their work cut out.
(GRUNTING) MICHAELA: There've been a few changes at the centre recently and that includes some unexpected help from Scotland.
David Irons is a GP from Stranraer, but was so moved by the crisis facing Borneo's orangutans that he now volunteers with Lone's team.
Orangutans are so similar that, you know, it's medical treatment, human medical treatment is the specific treatment for them.
And the medicine It's as if I'm in a hospital in the UK, but, obviously, with hairier patients.
MICHAELA: And given the orangutans'plight, David's not short of those.
(MACHINE BEEPING) Just like us, orangutans have their off days.
If they're feeling under the weather, they get a sick note and are sent back to the clinic for the day.
Some have a slight fever, others are more seriously ill, but it's a place where the babysitters can watch them closely, with a medical team never far away.
Things here are usually relaxed, but today, purely by chance, the cameras are running when something terrible happens.
(BRANCHES SNAPPING) (PEOPLE SCREAMING) Sumanto, an orangutan weakened by illness, falls 50 feet from a tree, bounces off a concrete wall and hits the ground hard.
He's rushed to the emergency room and, hearing the panic, David the GP isn't far behind.
Can you Can you get oxygen? MICHAELA: He'll use all the skills he uses to treat human patients to try and save Sumanto.
(PEOPLE CHATTING) While David checks the skull for fractures, all the babysitters can do is anxiously look on.
In the wild, you know, they do fall as well, a lot of them have fractures in the wild that we have evidence of, so it's not an unusual occurrence for this to happen.
MICHAELA: Poor Sumanto was already weakened by illness.
Now, he's fighting for his life.
So far, there's no obvious major injuries.
The nosebleed could be just a nosebleed, but it also is a possible sign of skull fracture.
The risk is always internal bleeding and that's a very difficult thing to diagnose in anybody, so we just have to keep an eye on pulse and blood pressure, et cetera.
(SIGHS) Okay.
MICHAELA: For Sumanto, the next few hours will be critical.
In the nursery, Peanut and Pickle are enjoying their day of discovery and play.
(SQUEAKING) They have a lot to learn and it's the babysitters that'll give these orphans all the help they need.
Not that every young orangutan needs encouraging.
The little female Peanut already seems more confident than her playmate Pickle.
Just like human children, orangutan girls are quicker on the uptake and Peanut is already streets ahead.
She's developing much faster and is already a confident climber.
While Peanut's off exploring, mummy's boy Pickle would rather be cuddled.
All that climbing looks far too much like hard work.
At this age in the wild, they'd be clinging to their mothers most of the time and only occasionally taking tentative steps through the trees.
Here, in the nursery, it's the same.
The babies explore if they want to, but there's always time for a quick nap in loving arms.
But there's no stopping Peanut.
She's still practising for her future in the trees.
In a few years' time, when she's grown and ready to leave, let's hope there still is a forest out there for her to swing in.
STEVE: The rescue team are struggling to move a pair of orangutans who could be killed for disrupting the livelihoods of the local people.
If they're about to start a family, it's important the couple are rescued together and tranquillising them is the only way to move them safely.
Everyone's hoping that when Miko darts the female, it doesn't frighten her partner off.
She's at least 60 feet away and he's got to hit her arms or legs, if possible.
It may only be a tranquilliser, but a needle in her chest could damage her vital organs and kill.
(TRANQUILISER GUN FIRES) And it's good.
She's soon fast asleep, and her partner seems reluctant to leave, which is great news.
The team can clear the area and sling a net to catch the female when she falls.
But there's another problem.
She's fast asleep, but won't let go.
If the tranquilliser wears off before she falls, she'll be off.
There's only one thing for it.
Someone's gonna have to go up there and get her.
Everything's resting on Leo.
He'll soon be 60 feet up a vertical trunk, with no ropes, and hours from the nearest hospital.
(MAN SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) The male orangutan is also watching and could see Leo as a rival to be chased out of the trees.
The net will break an orangutan's fall, but Leo could be killed.
(MEN CHATTERING) Her grip's so strong that shaking the tree won't budge her.
Leo has to climb even higher.
Holding on with one hand, he prises the female's fingers from the branch one by one.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) It looks harsh, but it's vital the team get these orangutans out of here.
The net has cushioned the fall, and when Miko from the medical team moves in, he finds the reason she could have been killed for being here.
This is It's rubber.
STEVE: It eats the rubber? MIKO: Yeah, it's rubber.
And it's still Rubber here.
STEVE: It was in its mouth? MIKO: Yeah.
STEVE: It's a sure sign she's been disrupting the work of the people in the forest, something she could have been killed for.
(MAN SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) Leo is still high in the tree.
The male has started to move off and, although the female's safe, she could wake up at any time.
They have to work fast if they're going to keep this courting couple together.
But that means catching the male.
It's the best thing for him, but he may not see it that way.
The team have already disrupted his romantic afternoon and he's stronger than any of them.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) (LAUGHING) Miko has to judge the dose just right.
Too much tranquilliser could kill, too little and the male could be awake when he hits the ground.
And if that happens, he won't be happy.
(GRUNTING) It's far from calm back at the centre.
Lone has the builders in.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) But not everyone's helping.
The centre was built to hold 100 orangutans.
Back then, the idea that one day they'll be forced to look after 600 was unthinkable.
There's not a single cage empty.
Some were only designed to hold the orangutans in quarantine for a month at most, but so many are flooding into the centre, that a few, too sick or wild to be part of Forest School, have to spend all their time in them.
Bigger cages will make their lives so much better.
LONE: I feel like that the whole project is a building site right now.
We've got microbiology lab going up, we've got ITU units, you know, like for emergency treatment and stuff like this and isolation.
And all these cages here as well.
And, we're The big cages over in the back there are being renovated totally as well.
It's moving forward, it might be taking a while longer than what it should, but, it is also matters because we have absolutely not a single cage empty, so, we get something finished, we have to fill that up before we can start knocking anything else down.
If we would have just levelled everything at one time, then we might have been able to work a little bit faster, but that's just the way it goes.
Well, we were very, very lucky that one of the big welfare organisations was out here and has been helping us for the last year.
And they managed last year to raise some more money that could build these cages for us.
STEVE: All this building work is a great relief for Lone and for the orangutans, yet another opportunity to play.
MICHAELA: It's getting towards the end of the day, and, in the nursery, the babies, Peanut and Pickle, are enjoying an afternoon drink.
As every parent knows, it's through simple adventures that babies somehow learn everything they need to know.
It may look like they haven't done much today, but they're learning all the time.
After a quick drink of milk, the little male, Pickle, has enough energy to set off on another adventure.
This afternoon, Pickle isn't interested in more tickles, no matter how tempting they look.
He is off looking for trouble, with an almost mischievous glint in his eye.
Peanut's already proved she's the best climber.
For now, she's happy to watch her playmate Pickle.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) Even at this young age, the boys enjoy some rough and tumble.
(SQUEALING) Pickle is on a mini rampage.
But all this learning is tiring work.
Bedtime won't come soon enough.
STEVE: For the rescue team, the day is far from over.
The female's safely sleeping, but they're rushing to keep up with the male swinging through the trees.
Sharpshooter Miko has his eye in now and the male is in his sights.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) But something doesn't seem quite right.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) (LEAVES RUSTLING) This orangutan could do them all serious harm, but if the team do nothing and he gets away, he could be killed.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) Thankfully, a few moments later, the drugs really kick in.
(MEN SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) This time he's fast asleep.
Finally, the orangutan couple are secured and the team can take them back to the boat, well away from danger and to a safer area of forest.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) MICHAELA: With over 600 rescued orangutans at the centre, things have to go on as normal, even though one is fighting for his life.
(PEOPLE SCREAMING) After Sumanto's terrifying fall, it's a wonder he's still alive and the medical team are very concerned.
With a fall like that, you know, the biggest problem is potential internal bleeding.
There's no way of proving that at the moment.
We just have to monitor his blood pressure.
If it does happen, then he's gonna crash, and we don't really have the facilities to do much about that.
It would require surgery, so we're just gonna have to hope that it doesn't happen.
Generally, if you get through 24 hours, you're pretty much safe, as a rule of thumb, but, you know, the early days are usually the most risky.
MICHAELA: Whether or not Sumanto will survive the night is anyone's guess.
But David and the team are doing everything they can.
STEVE: The rescue team will soon be on their way to a safer area of forest.
They only brought one cage, but even that hasn't stopped them.
The team's mechanic found wood in the village and knocked up a second crate.
The couple would be safe at the centre, but, even if there was room, they'd face months in a cage, while Lone tried to secure a protected area of forest to release them.
The team are managing a crisis and the best future they can offer them is simply to move them further away from people.
They know it's a compromise, that they may be just delaying the inevitable, but for now, at least, the couple are out of immediate danger.
A few hours upriver, there's a more isolated area, where humans are yet to have an impact and they have a chance to start life afresh.
In fact, it's so isolated, the team can't actually get into it.
Instead, they get as close as possible, and using fallen branches and loose boards from the boat, build a makeshift platform on the river's edge.
(MEN GRUNTING) (CHATTING) A quick test to see if it'll take the weight of the crate and they can move the orangutans into position.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) The female's first.
It's a tense moment as they move the crate from the boat to the platform.
They've come too far to lose her now.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) They only built it a couple of hours earlier, but the crate has done the job and the female is only too happy to help take it apart.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) (ORANGUTAN SQUEALING) - STEVE: Is it good, Leo? - Yeah, good.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) STEVE: Now that she's safe, she could live for 50 years.
But she'll only raise three or four babies in all that time.
Just one reason the team are thrilled they've managed to move this courting couple.
The team can't guarantee their safety, but for now, at least, they're out of danger.
Everyone's hopeful they have a chance to start a family in peace.
(MAN LAUGHING) STEVE: So, you happy, guys? (CHEERING) Back at the centre, rescued and confiscated orangutans will still be flooding in, but at least the team know that, thanks to them, one orangutan baby could be born with a better chance.
MICHAELA: Next time on Orangutan Diary.
Can anyone help Ruthie, an orangutan with real issues? After a terrifying fall, we find out if Sumanto has survived the night.
And Lone battles it through the mud to rescue a young orangutan illegally held in a tiny crate.
(PEOPLE CALLING OUT) The rescue team had to think fast when a powerful male decides he'd rather not be rescued.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) We meet irresistible orphans, Peanut and Pickle, enjoying the best medicine there is.
We sort of have a little rule of thumb here that you have to make them laugh for at least half an hour a day.
Is that so funny? (SQUEAKS) MICHAELA: And after a terrifying fall, Sumanto, already weakened by illness, fights for his life.
Can you Can you get oxygen? There doesn't seem to be any oxygen.
(ORANGUTANS CHATTERING) Is that so funny? MICHAELA: Lone Droscher Nielson runs the biggest ape rescue operation in the world.
The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation cares for over 600 rescued and confiscated orangutans.
Babies in nursery needing 24-hour care, orphans in Forest School learning the skills they'll need in the wild and older orangutans, who've graduated to the river islands, and are almost ready for release.
Their homes are destroyed so fast, they face extinction.
But the team here do everything they can to rescue, care for and return orangutans to the few safe places left in the wild.
But the wild is a long way off for the most vulnerable orangutans at the centre.
They still have a lot to learn.
The youngest orangutans in Lone's care live in a nursery group and this is where they spend the night, all snuggled in these baskets, looking hopelessly cute.
(SQUEALING) Lone used to have the nursery group in her own house, but permanently having a group of full-on babies took its toll and, after years of sleepless nights, they've been moved next door, so at least she can get a little bit of peace and quiet.
(MICHAELA CHUCKLING) Do you mind? (ORANGUTAN CHATTERING) It's 6:30 and they've been up for a while.
They've had their breakfast and they're all set to go out for a day in nursery school.
Every one of these tiny orphans had a tragic start in life.
Fortunately, they're too young to remember the loss of their mothers and, in these small groups, they can slowly gain confidence and get the love and attention their own mothers would have lavished on them.
This particular group is home to two of Lone's favourites, Peanut and Pickle.
This little one here is Peanut, as you can see, she's not bigger than that.
I picked her up at a palm oil plantation where, they say, that they found her with blood all over her, but the mother was not there.
I'm sure the mother is dead.
And they called us like on a late afternoon, panicky because they found her with blood and thinking she might have some injuries.
(ORANGUTAN SQUEAKING) Pickle was more or less the same, palm oil plantation.
Both Peanut and Pickle were still toothless when we got them, that means they were less than three months old.
MICHAELA: When their forest is replaced by plantation, hungry adults can damage the oil palms and are considered a pest.
Even though it's illegal, hunters hired to protect the crop put a bounty on their heads and the orphaned babies are often taken illegally as pets.
They'll all need five or six years of care, but, at this age, their needs are simple.
The most important thing here, definitely, is love and attention.
(ORANGUTANS SQUEAKING) Lots of cuddles, making them laugh.
We sort of have a little rule of thumb here that you have to make them laugh for at least half an hour a day.
MICHAELA: From the moment they first climb to the day they start Forest School, from their graduation to the islands, until they're grown and waved off into the wild, Lone will be there.
Without mothers of their own, this is their family now.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) The work of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation doesn't stop at the gates of the centre.
They respond to calls from a huge area of Borneo, confiscating orangutans held illegally as pets and rescuing those in danger from people.
STEVE: Once the rescue team are out and about, they have to be fully self-sufficient because they can be out there for days, so they bring everything with them.
You've got the cage to, obviously, hold the orangutans in, the dart gun going in there, so they can dart the orangutans up in the trees, first-aid kits, everything.
And one essential bit of kit, jungle footwear, with one essential modification.
Look, this hasn't happened by accident.
The water normally is up to here, so there's no point wearing wellies without drainage holes.
The 4x4 will get the team so far, but rain quickly turns Borneo's dirt roads to mud.
Rivers are often the only way to get around.
(PEOPLE CHATTING) The rescue team are on their way to a remote village, where an orangutan is in danger of being killed by the local people.
Generations of people in Borneo have made a meagre income from natural products that jungle provides.
And, until recently, the forest was big enough for orangutans and humans to share its riches.
But with 90% of its habitat now destroyed, there is increasing conflict.
Many villagers, already on the poverty line, now have to deal with hungry orangutans forced to flee the destruction of their forests and disrupting people's modest livelihoods.
The dripping sap from these trees is boiled to make rubber.
It takes days to collect, but it's too tempting for desperate orangutans, who drink from the cups, destroying hours of hard work.
Some people can't afford any loss of earnings and would illegally kill an orangutan to protect their livelihood.
A frustrated villager rang the centre, asking the rescue team to take the orangutan away.
The team need to deal with the situation before it becomes desperate, finding and moving the threatened animal away from danger before it's deliberately hurt.
Is that orangutan? Where is it? Someone's seen something up ahead.
(WATER SPLASHING) Where? Where? But, after a race through the jungle, the team discovers something none of them were prepared for.
(MAN SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) There are actually two orangutans, a male and a female.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) (CHUCKLES) Yeah, two.
Not one.
STEVE: It's rare to see adult orangutans together in the wild, unless they're courting.
So, if this couple are soon to start a family, it's important the team get them both to safety.
But they can only dart one at a time.
(SCREECHING) Now they really have their work cut out.
(GRUNTING) MICHAELA: There've been a few changes at the centre recently and that includes some unexpected help from Scotland.
David Irons is a GP from Stranraer, but was so moved by the crisis facing Borneo's orangutans that he now volunteers with Lone's team.
Orangutans are so similar that, you know, it's medical treatment, human medical treatment is the specific treatment for them.
And the medicine It's as if I'm in a hospital in the UK, but, obviously, with hairier patients.
MICHAELA: And given the orangutans'plight, David's not short of those.
(MACHINE BEEPING) Just like us, orangutans have their off days.
If they're feeling under the weather, they get a sick note and are sent back to the clinic for the day.
Some have a slight fever, others are more seriously ill, but it's a place where the babysitters can watch them closely, with a medical team never far away.
Things here are usually relaxed, but today, purely by chance, the cameras are running when something terrible happens.
(BRANCHES SNAPPING) (PEOPLE SCREAMING) Sumanto, an orangutan weakened by illness, falls 50 feet from a tree, bounces off a concrete wall and hits the ground hard.
He's rushed to the emergency room and, hearing the panic, David the GP isn't far behind.
Can you Can you get oxygen? MICHAELA: He'll use all the skills he uses to treat human patients to try and save Sumanto.
(PEOPLE CHATTING) While David checks the skull for fractures, all the babysitters can do is anxiously look on.
In the wild, you know, they do fall as well, a lot of them have fractures in the wild that we have evidence of, so it's not an unusual occurrence for this to happen.
MICHAELA: Poor Sumanto was already weakened by illness.
Now, he's fighting for his life.
So far, there's no obvious major injuries.
The nosebleed could be just a nosebleed, but it also is a possible sign of skull fracture.
The risk is always internal bleeding and that's a very difficult thing to diagnose in anybody, so we just have to keep an eye on pulse and blood pressure, et cetera.
(SIGHS) Okay.
MICHAELA: For Sumanto, the next few hours will be critical.
In the nursery, Peanut and Pickle are enjoying their day of discovery and play.
(SQUEAKING) They have a lot to learn and it's the babysitters that'll give these orphans all the help they need.
Not that every young orangutan needs encouraging.
The little female Peanut already seems more confident than her playmate Pickle.
Just like human children, orangutan girls are quicker on the uptake and Peanut is already streets ahead.
She's developing much faster and is already a confident climber.
While Peanut's off exploring, mummy's boy Pickle would rather be cuddled.
All that climbing looks far too much like hard work.
At this age in the wild, they'd be clinging to their mothers most of the time and only occasionally taking tentative steps through the trees.
Here, in the nursery, it's the same.
The babies explore if they want to, but there's always time for a quick nap in loving arms.
But there's no stopping Peanut.
She's still practising for her future in the trees.
In a few years' time, when she's grown and ready to leave, let's hope there still is a forest out there for her to swing in.
STEVE: The rescue team are struggling to move a pair of orangutans who could be killed for disrupting the livelihoods of the local people.
If they're about to start a family, it's important the couple are rescued together and tranquillising them is the only way to move them safely.
Everyone's hoping that when Miko darts the female, it doesn't frighten her partner off.
She's at least 60 feet away and he's got to hit her arms or legs, if possible.
It may only be a tranquilliser, but a needle in her chest could damage her vital organs and kill.
(TRANQUILISER GUN FIRES) And it's good.
She's soon fast asleep, and her partner seems reluctant to leave, which is great news.
The team can clear the area and sling a net to catch the female when she falls.
But there's another problem.
She's fast asleep, but won't let go.
If the tranquilliser wears off before she falls, she'll be off.
There's only one thing for it.
Someone's gonna have to go up there and get her.
Everything's resting on Leo.
He'll soon be 60 feet up a vertical trunk, with no ropes, and hours from the nearest hospital.
(MAN SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) The male orangutan is also watching and could see Leo as a rival to be chased out of the trees.
The net will break an orangutan's fall, but Leo could be killed.
(MEN CHATTERING) Her grip's so strong that shaking the tree won't budge her.
Leo has to climb even higher.
Holding on with one hand, he prises the female's fingers from the branch one by one.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) It looks harsh, but it's vital the team get these orangutans out of here.
The net has cushioned the fall, and when Miko from the medical team moves in, he finds the reason she could have been killed for being here.
This is It's rubber.
STEVE: It eats the rubber? MIKO: Yeah, it's rubber.
And it's still Rubber here.
STEVE: It was in its mouth? MIKO: Yeah.
STEVE: It's a sure sign she's been disrupting the work of the people in the forest, something she could have been killed for.
(MAN SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) Leo is still high in the tree.
The male has started to move off and, although the female's safe, she could wake up at any time.
They have to work fast if they're going to keep this courting couple together.
But that means catching the male.
It's the best thing for him, but he may not see it that way.
The team have already disrupted his romantic afternoon and he's stronger than any of them.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) (LAUGHING) Miko has to judge the dose just right.
Too much tranquilliser could kill, too little and the male could be awake when he hits the ground.
And if that happens, he won't be happy.
(GRUNTING) It's far from calm back at the centre.
Lone has the builders in.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) But not everyone's helping.
The centre was built to hold 100 orangutans.
Back then, the idea that one day they'll be forced to look after 600 was unthinkable.
There's not a single cage empty.
Some were only designed to hold the orangutans in quarantine for a month at most, but so many are flooding into the centre, that a few, too sick or wild to be part of Forest School, have to spend all their time in them.
Bigger cages will make their lives so much better.
LONE: I feel like that the whole project is a building site right now.
We've got microbiology lab going up, we've got ITU units, you know, like for emergency treatment and stuff like this and isolation.
And all these cages here as well.
And, we're The big cages over in the back there are being renovated totally as well.
It's moving forward, it might be taking a while longer than what it should, but, it is also matters because we have absolutely not a single cage empty, so, we get something finished, we have to fill that up before we can start knocking anything else down.
If we would have just levelled everything at one time, then we might have been able to work a little bit faster, but that's just the way it goes.
Well, we were very, very lucky that one of the big welfare organisations was out here and has been helping us for the last year.
And they managed last year to raise some more money that could build these cages for us.
STEVE: All this building work is a great relief for Lone and for the orangutans, yet another opportunity to play.
MICHAELA: It's getting towards the end of the day, and, in the nursery, the babies, Peanut and Pickle, are enjoying an afternoon drink.
As every parent knows, it's through simple adventures that babies somehow learn everything they need to know.
It may look like they haven't done much today, but they're learning all the time.
After a quick drink of milk, the little male, Pickle, has enough energy to set off on another adventure.
This afternoon, Pickle isn't interested in more tickles, no matter how tempting they look.
He is off looking for trouble, with an almost mischievous glint in his eye.
Peanut's already proved she's the best climber.
For now, she's happy to watch her playmate Pickle.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) Even at this young age, the boys enjoy some rough and tumble.
(SQUEALING) Pickle is on a mini rampage.
But all this learning is tiring work.
Bedtime won't come soon enough.
STEVE: For the rescue team, the day is far from over.
The female's safely sleeping, but they're rushing to keep up with the male swinging through the trees.
Sharpshooter Miko has his eye in now and the male is in his sights.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) But something doesn't seem quite right.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) (LEAVES RUSTLING) This orangutan could do them all serious harm, but if the team do nothing and he gets away, he could be killed.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) Thankfully, a few moments later, the drugs really kick in.
(MEN SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) This time he's fast asleep.
Finally, the orangutan couple are secured and the team can take them back to the boat, well away from danger and to a safer area of forest.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) MICHAELA: With over 600 rescued orangutans at the centre, things have to go on as normal, even though one is fighting for his life.
(PEOPLE SCREAMING) After Sumanto's terrifying fall, it's a wonder he's still alive and the medical team are very concerned.
With a fall like that, you know, the biggest problem is potential internal bleeding.
There's no way of proving that at the moment.
We just have to monitor his blood pressure.
If it does happen, then he's gonna crash, and we don't really have the facilities to do much about that.
It would require surgery, so we're just gonna have to hope that it doesn't happen.
Generally, if you get through 24 hours, you're pretty much safe, as a rule of thumb, but, you know, the early days are usually the most risky.
MICHAELA: Whether or not Sumanto will survive the night is anyone's guess.
But David and the team are doing everything they can.
STEVE: The rescue team will soon be on their way to a safer area of forest.
They only brought one cage, but even that hasn't stopped them.
The team's mechanic found wood in the village and knocked up a second crate.
The couple would be safe at the centre, but, even if there was room, they'd face months in a cage, while Lone tried to secure a protected area of forest to release them.
The team are managing a crisis and the best future they can offer them is simply to move them further away from people.
They know it's a compromise, that they may be just delaying the inevitable, but for now, at least, the couple are out of immediate danger.
A few hours upriver, there's a more isolated area, where humans are yet to have an impact and they have a chance to start life afresh.
In fact, it's so isolated, the team can't actually get into it.
Instead, they get as close as possible, and using fallen branches and loose boards from the boat, build a makeshift platform on the river's edge.
(MEN GRUNTING) (CHATTING) A quick test to see if it'll take the weight of the crate and they can move the orangutans into position.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) The female's first.
It's a tense moment as they move the crate from the boat to the platform.
They've come too far to lose her now.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) They only built it a couple of hours earlier, but the crate has done the job and the female is only too happy to help take it apart.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) (ORANGUTAN SQUEALING) - STEVE: Is it good, Leo? - Yeah, good.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) STEVE: Now that she's safe, she could live for 50 years.
But she'll only raise three or four babies in all that time.
Just one reason the team are thrilled they've managed to move this courting couple.
The team can't guarantee their safety, but for now, at least, they're out of danger.
Everyone's hopeful they have a chance to start a family in peace.
(MAN LAUGHING) STEVE: So, you happy, guys? (CHEERING) Back at the centre, rescued and confiscated orangutans will still be flooding in, but at least the team know that, thanks to them, one orangutan baby could be born with a better chance.
MICHAELA: Next time on Orangutan Diary.
Can anyone help Ruthie, an orangutan with real issues? After a terrifying fall, we find out if Sumanto has survived the night.
And Lone battles it through the mud to rescue a young orangutan illegally held in a tiny crate.