Orangutan Diary (2007) s02e07 Episode Script

MICHAELA: This week on Orangutan Diary.
Siska must convince the captor of two baby orangutans to let them go, David rushes to a medical emergency in the forest and Lone has finally found an orangutan release site deep in the heart of Borneo.
MICHAELA: The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation is home to over 600 orangutans.
Some of them have been rescued after their forest homes have been destroyed, either for the timber industry or to make way for palm oil plantations.
Others, like all of these here, are orphans, who have been kept illegally as pets before being confiscated and brought here to the centre.
Although they look content now, it's tragic to think they were all separated from their mothers at such a young and vulnerable age.
STEVE: Last time on Orangutan Diary, we followed vet Siska and the rescue team as they desperately tried to locate these tiny, orphaned orangutans.
They had been taken from the wild and held illegally in a remote village.
Now their captor is back, and he's armed.
If he's surprised to find his home full of strangers, he's not showing it.
Everyone gathers in the house to explain the situation and start the lengthy negotiations.
(MAN SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) It's illegal to keep orangutans as pets, so the babies should be handed over.
But the negotiations have to be conducted very diplomatically.
(SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) These people need to realise why what they've done is wrong.
The team need their cooperation.
Otherwise, there's nothing to stop them going out and getting another baby orangutan.
With a careful blend of encouragement and education, even a free T-shirt, the family are persuaded that it's best to give up the two orangutans.
(MAN SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) The discussion went well and they agreed to give us the orangutans.
So he is finishing the letters of permission and, soon, we can bring the orangutans back home to our place.
That's a very good ending.
(CHUCKLES) (SISKA SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) STEVE: The orphaned orangutans seem healthy.
The family have looked after them.
(SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) But they probably planned to sell them into the pet trade.
It's still unclear what happened to their mothers.
It's likely they were killed, perhaps after eating the villagers' crops, or simply just to get hold of these valuable infants.
These tiny babies would have been clinging to their mothers when they were killed and then pulled from their dead bodies.
(WHIMPERING) Just like human babies, they're now completely dependent on the people that care for them.
Fortunately, that's now Siska and the dedicated staff of the BOS Foundation.
(SHUSHING) It's not just babies that come into the centre.
These cages are reserved for adult orangutans, rescued when their forest homes are destroyed.
They are left largely undisturbed to try and keep their instincts and fear of humans intact.
But, with new orangutans arriving weekly, the waiting list for release continues to grow.
Some orangutans find themselves in these cages for much longer than was ever intended.
Nobody likes to see intelligent animals like these orangutans cooped up all the time.
So the staff here are really focused on making their lives a lot better.
And that's where this comes in.
It isn't all that much, but this is gonna keep an orangutan entertained for hours.
Well, with a few more key ingredients.
First, drill some holes in a log.
Then squeeze in some honey.
The holes are too small for the orangutans to fit their fingers in, but a stick does the trick.
It all helps to keep their natural instincts alive.
Some were a bit slower than others, but most catch on very quickly.
They're a very, very intelligent animal, and, in the wild, they have to use that intellect.
They have to sort of discover how to find food all the time.
This is part and parcel of being orangutans.
And it just gives them something to do.
Keep themselves busy and stimulated.
That's, I'd say, as important as looking after their physical health.
Mental health is so, so important and the staff here are taking more and more time and energy into giving these orangutans something to occupy their time while they're in captivity.
MICHAELA: Lone's latest project is nearing completion.
An area has been cleared, and new, larger cages are being constructed.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) Lone, true to form, has taken a very active interest.
The cages were built to her own design.
But she's finding progress frustratingly slow.
You know, there's always something that's wrong, but They are not working on this one, the floor underneath that one, because they ran out of cement.
And I was like, "Why are we not buying some more cement?" Well, because the contractor, who's supposed to buy the cement, has gone off to Java.
I'm like, "Just go and buy some cement, and I'll ask him for the money later.
" Sometimes, everything just comes to a standstill because of stuff like that.
MICHAELA: Lone can't wait to get the cages completed.
They've been kitted out with this recycled rubber, which will allow the orangutans to climb, build nests and play.
They're also eight times bigger than the old ones.
I do not like watching them sitting in those small cages.
It's so sad, just sitting in there behind bars.
It's just like being imprisoned.
MICHAELA: These old cages were only ever intended for orangutans to spend four weeks in during their quarantine, but the centre was never built to look after 600 orangutans.
It's severely overstretched.
Some orangutans have seen their short stay turned into months, verging on years.
Even before work is completed, Lone is desperate to move orangutans into the larger cages.
At the top of her list is Wu Wu.
He's blind and can never go back to the wild.
His life of darkness must be very lonely.
But this move may give him a little of what he's been missing.
(MAN SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) It must be terrifying not being able to see or understand what's happening.
But Lone has a plan that will improve his quality of life.
(MAN AND LONE SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) In his new cage, Wu Wu is going to have a companion, a young male called Jo Jo.
(LONE SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) LONE: I want him to get some company.
I feel very sorry for him, just being all by himself.
Jo Jo.
They're just a little bit stressed right now because Wu Wu, obviously, doesn't know what the other one is and that sort of thing.
He doesn't know how big he is.
So I think they're just Like, right now, with the vocalising, they can sort of get an idea about how big they are.
(VOCALISING) You know, for him, it must be so scary, suddenly not being able to see anything.
He wasn't blind.
He's just become blind over the last, maybe, six months or so.
He was sort of, like, partially blind when we got him, but we couldn't reverse what was already happening.
(BOTH VOCALISING) MICHAELA: Because of his degenerative eye disease, Wu Wu's journey will end at the centre.
There's nowhere else for him to go.
But Lone still insists on offering him the best life he can possibly experience.
We're trying to save the species, but you can't sort of help having to save those individuals that I mean, this is because of us, so we sort of owe it to them.
Hopefully, we can put him on an island.
We're hoping that he will get so used to us by then that, by hearing our voices, he will be able to come into the feeding places.
We'll see how it goes.
(PEOPLE CLAMOURING) STEVE: There's been an accident in the forest.
DAVID: Right, just out here.
STEVE: David, the GP, has been called.
But, at the moment, no one's quite sure what's happened.
(SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) Okay.
Peter, can I see? Can she open her eyes? Can you ask her that? STEVE: Letta, one of the babysitters, is hurt.
DAVID: Can you ask her to point where it hurts? (SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) STEVE: She's clearly in a lot of pain.
(WOMAN SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) - And it's difficult to speak.
- Okay.
STEVE: It seems as though she tripped and injured herself when she fell.
(ALL SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) DAVID: I want to give her an injection for pain.
PETER: Mmm-hmm.
Yeah.
DAVID: A strong painkiller.
Okay? Is she okay with that? (PETER AND WOMAN SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) (GASPING IN PAIN) I think she fainted here, fell right on her chest, and she's got severe pain in the chest, so she may have fractured the bone here, the sternum, which is a very serious injury, 'cause it can also give a shockwave to the heart as well, so it needs to be treated very seriously.
First of all, we need to get her out of the jungle.
I mean, you've seen what it's like to get in here.
So we've got a makeshift stretcher going, but she needs to have a strong painkiller.
So I'm gonna get her a lot happier, as far as pain is concerned.
Everything else is stable at the moment, so I'm gonna give her a strong painkiller first.
(ALL SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) (GASPING IN PAIN) DAVID: Okay, it's all right.
Let's have a look at her eyes.
Okay.
And we'll have to try and move her now.
STEVE: As a trained doctor now working at the centre, David's years of experience in emergency situations will be invaluable.
(ALL SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) (SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) STEVE: News of the incident has gone ahead, and Lone radios the hospital to prepare them for the casualty.
(SPEAKING BAHASA INDONESIA) There are almost 200 people employed by the centre.
Babysitters, technicians, medics and mechanics.
Lone has selected every one of them and knows them all personally.
They'll have to wait until Letta gets to hospital before they know exactly what her injuries are.
But the accident has left everybody very shocked.
Siska and the confiscated baby orangutans have made it safely down the river to the village, where the rescue team abandoned their car.
The sooner they get back to the centre, the better.
Travelling is very stressful for the babies.
But, unfortunately, they seem to have drawn a crowd of excited villagers.
(VILLAGERS CLAMOURING) Siska is struggling.
With all the noise and commotion, one of the baby orangutans refuses to go into the cage and clings to Siska, the only security it knows.
(VILLAGERS CLAMOURING) Even in Borneo, orangutans are rarely seen and people are eager to get as close to these babies as they would be in any other country.
But all this attention is very frightening.
At only a year old, these babies should have had no contact with humans and be living deep in the forest with their mothers.
Instead, they've been thrust into a world of noise, confusion and fear.
Imagine the effect of this trauma on a human baby.
(VOCALISING) However, Siska's not out of the woods yet.
(ENGINE REVVING) (CHUCKLING) One more time, we got stuck in this bad, bad, bad state.
And I'm afraid we can't make it tonight and have to stay here overnight and try again tomorrow morning.
(CHUCKLING) I've never slept in this kind of jungle.
But that's fine.
STEVE: Just as Siska is resigned to spending the night in a stationary pickup with a film crew and two baby orangutans, hope appears in the form of a man with a very powerful-sounding vehicle.
He's come from the village, and is obviously used to driving in these conditions.
But the road is proving too much for everyone.
(ENGINE REVVING) While the men try to rescue the pickup, Siska is settling into the idea of an uncomfortable night in the car.
But she's underestimated the men's tenacity.
(ENGINE REVVING) (MAN WHOOPS) Now on solid ground, they can pull Siska clear.
Finally, with daylight disappearing fast, the team can continue their journey back to the centre.
It's been a tough day for Siska and the little orphans.
Fast asleep now, they must be exhausted.
But their future is looking much brighter than it was this morning.
The two new arrivals will soon be joining the other babies at the centre.
But the nursery is already full of orphaned orangutans.
Every part of the centre is stretched almost to breaking point.
(SNORING) And as their habitat continues to be destroyed, orangutans keep arriving.
The centre is running at six times its intended capacity.
Cages are filled as fast as Lone can build them.
(SNORING) (ANNOUNCEMENT OVER PA IN LOCAL LANGUAGE) MICHAELA: But Lone has big plans to help ease the pressure at the centre, and realise her long-term ambition for every one of the orangutans.
If all goes well, in just a few weeks, she could be releasing some of her orangutans back to the wild.
It's the culmination of months of meticulous planning.
LONE: Oh, it's taken a lot of work.
You know, it's not like you can just go and charter a plane.
I need a special plane for this.
I need a special helicopter.
I need some specially-trained helicopter pilots.
Whenever I could get the airplane to fly us up with the orangutans, I couldn't get the helicopter.
Then when I could finally get the helicopter, I couldn't get the plane.
And just getting permissions from the government, the local government and the central government, it's taken a long time.
MICHAELA: With this mountain of paperwork and planning behind her, Lone needs to assess possible release sites and that's by no means straightforward.
Two domestic flights, followed by a short helicopter ride, will take her to the remote jungle camp of a mining company.
From there, she'll be able to fly over potential release sites.
(ALL DISCUSSING) But finding a suitable place is fraught with difficulties.
It's because this one stops here.
It doesn't continue around.
Is that The orangutans, they're being brought in on a sling, hanging on to the helicopter, so it's easy enough to drop them down.
But, with us, we actually have to land.
We can't sort of, like, wire ourselves down in the middle of the forest.
It doesn't quite work that way.
So we have to find, you know, a clearing where we could be able to land the helicopter.
(BOTH SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) MICHAELA: Potential sites have been identified, and their coordinates loaded into the helicopter's GPS.
With so much at stake, Lone's meticulous planning is vital.
I have to be positive.
I mean, I've got dates for everything set now, so now we have to go.
It doesn't matter where it is, but we're gonna get them in there.
MICHAELA: Borneo is the third largest island in the world, three-and-a-half times the size of Great Britain.
It's one of the richest environments on Earth, with thousands of endemic animals and plants found nowhere else on the planet.
In one square kilometre, there can be as many as 240 different species of tree.
It's because of this diversity, and the fragile equilibrium established over millennia, that orangutans can thrive in these forests.
But it's disappearing fast.
Borneo's already lost half of its forest cover, and even more has been earmarked for destruction.
Yet here, in Borneo's remote heart, large areas of pristine forest still remain.
This is where Lone hopes to release the orangutans.
Its inaccessibility will keep the orangutans safe, but it makes getting in there a considerable challenge.
LONE: We have to have a good drop point to lower the cages down.
We need equipment in and stuff like that and set up a small camp.
But, no, we'll easily find 12 drop points.
It won't be a problem.
But, logistically, I think it's gonna be a little bit of a nightmare.
STEVE: After her accident in the forest, babysitter Letta is back at the centre.
An x-ray in hospital has shown nothing's broken.
Apart from a big bruise, she's gonna be fine.
Another of David's patients who's also feeling better is Marley.
He'd been suffering from malaria, but now it's run its course and he's back to his mischievous best and, finally, well enough to attend Forest School.
(MAN GROANS) - MAN: Come on, Marley.
- Come on, Marley.
Come on.
Come on, Marley.
STEVE: Every day, the babysitters bring the 200 or so orangutan students from the centre out to Forest School.
They come here after a year in nursery and stay until they're four or five.
Marley will be joining the youngest class.
It's a lot calmer than some of the older groups, but it's fair to say that they're an interesting crowd.
(EXCLAIMS) (ALL LAUGHING) Today, you join with group and you playing with friend.
One group here.
You walk up in the tree.
Okay, Marley! Bye-bye, Marley.
STEVE: Out here, Marley will learn the secrets of the forest, the art of finding termites in rotten bits of wood, or that food really does grow on trees.
And, importantly, that some animals, however fascinating, should be steered well clear of.
By building this intimate knowledge of the forest, it's hoped that Marley and all these orphans will one day be able to survive back in the wild.
(MAN AND LONE SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) MICHAELA: Deep in the forest, nearly 200 kilometres from the centre, Lone is inspecting cages built over two years ago for a similar release.
It's a staging post, where the orangutans will be brought before making the final leg of their journey back to the wild.
From here, a helicopter will take them the last few kilometres to Lone's chosen release sites.
Well, at least the cages are good.
Actually, they look almost in better shape than the ones at the project.
They're not rusted as much as I thought they would have.
It's really nice.
The top of the cages are covered in vines and stuff.
I think it's quite cosy.
(LONE CHUCKLES) It's like a little jungle around here.
It's much quieter, it's much cooler because the trees have really closed up at the top as well now, so it's gonna be a lot cooler for them.
We even have a couple of banana trees that are fruiting.
(LONE CHUCKLING) Good! MICHAELA: Everything is now in place.
The release can finally go ahead.
But with over 600 orangutans back at the centre, it must seem like a never-ending struggle against impossible odds.
LONE: Just like everybody else in any job, really, you've got good days and you've got bad days.
Last year, I think I had more bad days than I had good days, because we were running out of money.
We managed, finally, to save the project.
But it is very much Very often, you feel like you're within a Like a room with no windows and no doors, so you just keep on running up against walls all the time.
Every time you think that you found a place that you might be able to release the animals, then you find out that there is a logging concession, there's a mining concession.
It's gonna be too expensive.
There's always something in the way, and there's always, you know Oh, I've had my days where I just wanted to just leave it all and say, "No, sorry, Indonesia, now you take care of it yourself.
"It is your problem.
It is not mine.
" I could leave tomorrow, if I wanted to, but then I sort of go out on the lawn in the afternoon and look at the orangutans, and I know that I probably never will.
Occasionally, some people will sort of say to me, "God, we admire you so much for what you're doing", but it's not something I go around and think about, you know, every day.
(CHUCKLING) I think more about all the problems that I have.
But, in retrospect, if I look at the whole situation, I've saved maybe 700, 800 animals over the last eight years.
And, in some way, that's maybe something to be proud of, but that's not why I'm doing it.
I mean, I'm doing it for the orangutans, not for myself.
Next time on Orangutan Diary.
Malaria hits the sick group, but not everyone's pleased with Dr David's idea of treatment.
Master fugitive Bento, having escaped from the islands, refuses to come quietly.
And, after months of planning, Lone is finally on the verge of releasing more orangutans back into the wild.