Orangutan Diary (2007) s02e03 Episode Script

STEVE: This week on Orangutan Diary.
Can anyone help Ruthie, an orangutan with real issues? (SQUEALING) (PEOPLE SCREAMING) After his terrifying fall, we find out if Sumanto will survive the night.
And Lone battles through the mud to save a young orangutan held illegally in a tiny crate.
She's been sitting in this little cage not being able to stand upright for two weeks.
It's just the worst I've seen for a long time.
STEVE: Lone Droscher Nielsen runs the biggest ape rescue operation in the world.
The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation cares for more than 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.
I've got the camera.
STEVE: Lone is setting off from the centre hoping to save yet another life.
She urgently needs to confiscate a young orangutan held captive in a palm oil plantation.
When their forests are destroyed, desperately hungry orangutans can damage the oil palms that replace them and are killed as pests.
Their babies are often illegally taken as pets.
A few days ago, Lone learned that a baby held at the same location was so badly treated, it died.
Lone is desperate to see how the remaining one is doing.
But the roads here are so treacherous and there's no knowing how long the journey will take.
Babies held as pets can arrive at the centre in a shocking state.
David Irons is a G.
P.
But orangutans are so similar to us, he uses the same skills and drugs on these new arrivals as he would on his human patients.
How long are these guys gonna be in isolation here, do you think? Well, hopefully not very long.
(CHUCKLES) This one, he doesn't seem too bad.
STEVE: No, he's looking all right, isn't he? DAVID: I think we'll get him hydrated, and allow the antibiotics to kick in and he'll probably recover quite quickly.
- STEVE: Yeah.
- This one, he's been sick for Probably about a week, actually, on and off with different things, possibly even more and he's gonna take a little bit more work.
STEVE: All right.
Would you say that confiscations probably present your worst challenges then, when they come in? Medically, I think, you'd have to say yes, mainly because they're always youngsters.
They're always babies, anything from six months or even younger to, you know, a few years.
Once they get past that age, usually the people aren't interested in keeping them.
You know, sometimes you see horrendous situations where they've probably been kept in a box this size so they have no movements in arms and legs, riddled with all sorts of parasites and infection.
STEVE: Do you manage to save all of them, or You can never say all of them, but, if they arrive here, then we can usually save them.
STEVE: Very often, speed is everything and with one baby already having died at the same location, Lone can't let anything slow her down.
(PEOPLE SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) This area of Borneo is the frontline when it comes to expanding palm oil.
It's why the staff are so busy.
Shall I take this? STEVE: The vast majority of orphans arriving here were found in plantations.
There are so many orangutans at the centre now that the surrounding forest couldn't possibly provide enough food for all of them.
Instead the babysitters give them fruit out in the forest and, once a day, they all come together for a group feed on the lawn.
That's the fruit.
And it looks like here come the orangutans.
(ORANGUTANS SQUEALING) It's always very entertaining watching these guys when they all come together and there's plenty of mischief and mayhem that goes on.
MICHAELA: And, yet, they hardly ever see each other in the wild.
Fruit in the forest is so widely dispersed that if they fed in a group, there simply wouldn't be enough to go around.
Their diet means they have to live apart.
It's not surprising then that with over 600 forced together here, they occasionally fall out.
(ORANGUTANS SQUEALING) And this unnatural gathering doesn't just cause problems between orangutans.
All this food attracts uninvited guests.
(MONKEYS CHATTERING) For the local macaques it's too much to resist.
Most of the time they get along fine, although some of the orangutans seem less than pleased to be sharing.
(PEOPLE SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) But macaques can be a pushy bunch.
Like playground bullies, they're not scared of throwing their weight around, even when the orangutans are much larger.
(PEOPLE SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) The small ones just cheekily steal titbits.
But the adults can be aggressive and, occasionally, they cause real problems.
Poor Robert has been bitten pretty badly and Siska from the medical team is treating the wound.
(CHUCKLES) Pigtail macaque bite him.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sometimes it happens.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) MICHAELA: At least Robert knows what's good for him.
Not all the orangutans in Siska's care are quite as relaxed.
Robert is a good patient for me.
He's very cooperative.
Unfortunately, not all patient is as nice as Robert.
You must see when I change Ruthie's dressing.
(SISKA CHUCKLES) - We have to fight every day.
- MAN: Yeah.
And it will be lucky if I don't get bitten.
(ALL CHUCKLE) MICHAELA: Ruthie is definitely an orangutan with issues.
She was expelled from Forest School when she started biting her classmates.
Like people, orangutans are all individuals.
The only downside is that, like people, some are harder to warm to than others.
Even the babysitters find her a challenge.
(WOMAN LAUGHING) Poor Ruthie.
When she first arrived she loved absolutely everybody, but somehow got in with the wrong crowd.
She was bullied by another orangutan who would bite her every time anyone came close, and now, she's a bully too.
MICHAELA: If her bad behaviour continues, she can't go back to school and might have to be caged.
And no school means no chance of a future back in the wild.
The team are desperate to find a way to get through to her.
With barrow loads of orangutans to look after, the team really have their work cut out.
Given how endangered orangutans are, losing just one is nothing short of a disaster.
But, despite getting the best care possible, accidents occasionally happen.
Last time on Orangutan Diary, the medical team had to think fast when Sumanto suffered a terrifying fall.
No one knew if he'd get through the night.
David, the G.
P.
, has come to check on his progress.
DAVID: Hello.
How are you doing, Sumanto? He had a transfusion in the middle of the night.
I was down here about 10:00, we managed to find a donor, which is not always that easy, 'cause we have to find a larger orangutan who can afford to give a little bit of blood and so he's well topped up with blood at the moment.
We have to monitor his blood level and make sure he's not losing any more.
But at least it's a good start.
MICHAELA: But, perhaps, there's a silver lining to this awful event.
DAVID: The nice thing is that, although he doesn't like contact too much with humans, because he came in at an older age.
It's a huge difference between a wild orangutan and one of the confiscated ones which would have contact with humans for a long time.
He's in that difficult state where, if he stays very wild at this age, he's gonna be very difficult to enrol in the Forest School system to be able to develop all the skills he needs.
So, in a way, him being ill and actually being in this state allows him to get used to people a little bit, um, and that may mean a better future for him, 'cause if we can put him through the Forest School system and he can develop more skills and eventually hopefully be introduced into the wild again.
So he may have done himself a favour actually being ill and have an accident.
But, we'll see.
MICHAELA: After this, Sumanto should be much calmer around people.
He can go to Forest School and one day make it back to the wild.
His fall may have given him a future, if he can just pull through.
STEVE: Lone is still racing to reach a young orangutan illegally held in a palm oil plantation.
With every passing mile, the devastation the industry has caused becomes more obvious.
It's a featureless landscape stripped of trees.
Ninety percent of the orangutan's habitat has already disappeared.
We're heading in there, believe it or not.
In there.
(CHUCKLING) In the middle of absolutely nowhere.
The words are the road going that way is a little bit better than this one.
So, I'll see what that means.
STEVE: Heavy rain has turned the road to mud.
And, up ahead, the Forestry Department car that's meant to be showing them the way is well and truly stuck.
(CAR ENGINE REVVING) There's a growing sense of frustration.
With one baby already having died at the same location, every minute they spend here increases the chance of another tragedy.
It's been five hours drive out here.
The last little bit here has taken us almost an hour for the last four kilometres because of the forest department's car getting stuck.
We're actually out in the middle of a palm oil plantation that's built in some peat swamp forest.
And because they're draining here, they dig out canals around in order to drain the peat and so what we're driving at the moment is actually just pure mud and I wouldn't be surprised if we will get there to the orangutan when it's pitch dark, and Whether we're gonna make it home tonight or not I don't know.
If we get more rain, we're not gonna make it out of here.
(CAR ENGINE REVVING) Okay, they're gonna pull right now, so, there's gonna be a lot of STEVE: But at least the delay is a chance for Lone to get some information.
The man who's been holding the young orangutan captive was actually in the Forestry Department's car.
It turns out the orangutan was too big to be kept as a pet, and he decided to do the decent thing and ask for it to be taken away.
He's here to help.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) (MAN LAUGHS) LONE: Okay.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) He thought it was about six months old, but with the size, sort of, scale, it's probably about three years old, maybe even a bit older and it's still very wild and they can't touch it.
But he's had it for two weeks and, because they can't touch it, they can't really use it as a pet, so they called this morning and said, we got an orangutan and please come and pick it up.
STEVE: There's no knowing what state the orangutan will be in when they arrive.
But, at this rate, they may not get there at all.
MICHAELA: At the clinic, Siska from the medical team is changing Ruthie's dressings.
Bad behaviour got Ruthie expelled from Forest School and her temper isn't improving.
It's taking three people to hold her down.
She's very aggressive, and she will bite and scratch.
But the bandage has to be changed every day.
We have to restrain her like this.
She don't like men.
When she gets irritated, she will get angry and bite her hands, her arms, and maybe she will bite her friends if they come closer to her.
Usually, she will attack them first and they won't accept that and bite her back.
And this is what happened.
MICHAELA: Ruthie is a very troubled orangutan.
She doesn't just attack others, she also self harms.
Ruthie was old enough to remember losing her mother and then was ill-treated as a pet.
Her violent past has left her traumatised.
It's hard to imagine how she'll ever get better.
But her future depends on it.
This is where Ruthie should be, out in Forest School learning the skills she'll need in the wild.
Even though some orangutans here have overcome incredible hardship, they're still keen to learn.
Kesi was one of the characters we followed last time on Orangutan Diary.
She lost her hand in the same machete blow that killed her mother, but she's still a star pupil.
When the babysitters break open rotting logs, Casey knows that wood isn't the only thing inside.
Fruit can be hard to find in the forest, but it doesn't mean that there isn't food to be found.
You just have to know where to look.
(WOMAN SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) Using a few simple tools, a smart orangutan can pick out ants that have made their nest in rotting wood.
They might not make the most filling meal, but, when these orangutans have to look after themselves in the wild, life will sometimes be hard.
Knowing where to find a meal, however modest, is a skill that will be vital.
Kesi's getting the hang of it, although her attention does tend to wander.
Just because she's doing well in school doesn't mean she's always well behaved.
(PEOPLE SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) (ORANGUTAN SQUEALING) Like any child, Kesi likes to test the boundaries.
Especially with new babysitters.
Sometimes, she can be really naughty.
(PEOPLE SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) (WOMAN LAUGHING) But at least Kesi has got over the trauma of her past.
Her disability hasn't stopped her and she's doing really well.
If Ruthie has any hope of getting back into the wild, then she'll also need to put her past behind her and do the same.
(PEOPLE SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) STEVE: For the 150 staff working at the centre, it's been another challenging day.
The orangutans have finished Forest School and, in the nursery, the babies are off to bed.
These baskets are just as comfortable as the nest of leaves their mothers would have made in the wild and they'll soon be fast asleep.
Most of the staff are heading home too, babysitters and technicians, mechanics and medics, drivers and cooks.
They're all needed to keep the place running.
After helping to care for young orangutans all day, many will be going back to look after their own children.
But Lone's day is far from over.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) It's taken all day to reach a young orangutan held in a palm oil plantation.
And when she finally arrives, she's shocked by what she finds.
The crate she was told the orangutan was kept in turns out to be a tiny box, barely big enough for it to turn around.
Sweetheart.
Hi.
God, you haven't been able to move in there.
(ORANGUTAN GRUNTING) We'll put her in a another cage, because she's gonna die in there, (CHUCKLES) you know, before She's sitting totally crunched down like this.
On the road, she's gonna be all over the place, so we're gonna have to try and put her into the other cage.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) STEVE: When an orangutan is confiscated, it's usually best to keep it in the crate in which it's found.
Moving it only adds to its stress, but there's no way Lone can leave it in this.
She's been sitting in this little cage not being to stand upright for two weeks.
(ORANGUTAN GRUNTING) Just been given, like, kasawa roots and bananas.
STEVE: Imagine, two weeks cramped in this tiny box without even being able to stand.
The forestry guys just need to make a letter where the owner voluntarily hands over the orangutan to the Forestry Department.
And then, eventually, they'll make a letter that they are giving the orangutan to the project for safekeeping until it's ready for release.
He's obviously, he's had her for two weeks here, and, I think, probably decided that it would be the right thing to do.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) STEVE: It's hard for Lone to confront those that have added to this animal's suffering.
But she has to stay civil.
If she makes trouble, people are less likely to get in touch in the future and more orangutans could needlessly die.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) It can't stay in this, but the team never knew they'd need to move it.
Without one of the medical team to tranquilise the orangutan, they face a difficult challenge.
LONE: It's gonna be a rough ride for her.
She's gonna be stressed.
But once we get to the project she will At least this cage is a good sized cage for her.
But you don't want them in too big a cage either because they thrash around a lot.
But that cage that she's in, that is just the worst that I've seen for a long time, for such a big animal, to keep them in there.
She can't even When she sits up she can't even keep her neck straight.
STEVE: Transferring her to a larger crate without her escaping will be difficult.
If she disappears into the night, they could lose her.
And, with that, any hope of offering her a better future.
MICHAELA: In the nursery, there's still a light shining.
But the snoring has already started.
(ORANGUTANS SNORING) The babysitters will sleep here on the floor making sure these babies are fed and comforted through the night.
Some will sleep till morning.
But, like human babies, the younger ones will need feeding every few hours.
(PEOPLE SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) In the wild, they'd be curled up in a nest their mothers would have made.
A bed of leaves and branches gathered and woven together high in the trees.
When you see them like this, it's easy to appreciate why each orangutan life is precious.
Yet, without Lone, every one of these babies would have died, or be facing a lifetime behind bars.
When the palm oil industry expanded here, the number of babies arriving at the centre increased massively.
The deliberate killing of mothers in plantations is the only explanation.
The team work day and night to save all the orphan infants they can.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) STEVE: The confiscation has reached a critical point.
Even though this tiny box is barely big enough to hold her, this young, frightened orangutan feels safer inside.
But Lone knows how hard it was to get here.
On the journey back, the orangutan will be safer in the larger cage.
LONE: Come on out.
Get out.
Come out.
Get out.
We've got to try and put the whole cage in there, see if she will come out.
STEVE: She's been trapped inside for a fortnight.
After losing her mother, it's the only security she knows.
Even when the crate is held upside down, she still clings tightly to the inside.
LONE: Just gonna try and take the whole cage apart around her, because she doesn't wanna get out of it.
I can't have her sitting in that cage for this long trip.
It's just not feasible.
(ORANGUTAN SQUEALING) STEVE: Lone can't risk her escaping into the night.
This really is the best thing for her.
For this frightened, young thing, the forest and her mother must seem very far away.
(PEOPLE SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) It might look very stressful for her, this, but, this is so much better for her in the long run, if we could just get her out of that cage.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) STEVE: It must be bewildering for this young orangutan.
She probably heard the rumbling of diggers, the tearing of trees, retreated as her patch of forest shrank, until it was nothing more than a wooden crate made from the trees that once grew around her.
These few minutes of distress may seem like hours.
But Lone is offering her a future.
Well, it's now gonna be a long trip home for her.
We've left the cage standing up so she has a little bit more room upwards, you know, so she doesn't knock her head up against everything.
And she also doesn't have such a big bottom to move around in.
(LONE LAUGHING) (SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) STEVE: Just before they leave, Lone gives a gift to the orangutan's captors.
Despite driving all day, seeing this young orangutan kept in terrible conditions, and knowing that now, it will need years of care, she knows that these small acts of kindness make people more likely to get in touch and saves orangutans' lives.
The team are exhausted, it could take all night to get home.
But, because of them, yet another precious orangutan life has been saved.
Next time on Orangutan Diary.
The rescue team go in search of an orangutan seen dangerously close to a village school.
They don't understand because they've never seen orangutan before, until orangutan come to the tree.
MICHAELA: Sumanto's health takes a terrifying turn for the worse.
I've had other orangutans in a similar situation, and, so far, I guess, realistically, it's been 50-50, as far as who have survived and who hasn't.
And Angelie, missing for two months, walks straight through the front gate.
(PEOPLE SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) Don't you ever do that to us again, okay?