Barrow loads of mischief! Orphan baby orangutans saved by YOUR generosity trundle off to their private jungle playground

http://xclusivetalk.blogspot.com

Arms wrapped around each other for balance as their wheelbarrow taxi bumps along a jungle path, these adorable baby apes are on their way to their own private patch of rainforest — all thanks to the generosity of Daily Mail readers.

Wonder is written on their faces as they peer over the edge of the barrows to see what might be around the next corner.

One particularly curious passenger seems in danger of falling out as he leans precariously over the front wheel.

When they reach their destination, in the middle of Borneo’s lush jungle, sheer excitement gets the better of them. They spill out, tumbling over each other in a tangle of skinny, red limbs, eager to explore.

It’s mayhem, until their keepers — wearing facemasks to avoid passing on human germs — are able to round them up, and lead them by the hands to the trees where they can swing from branches, forage for food and learn to live as wild orangutans.

They are the victims of logging companies who are destroying their habitat in Borneo and of hunters who kill adult orangutans and sell the babies to the black-market pet trade, where they fetch high prices.

Life in captivity is harsh. Chained up, underfed, mistreated and beaten by their owners — and sometimes tormented by local children — pet orangutans in Borneo rarely live to be fully grown.

Females mature sometime between the ages of six and 11 but males are not fully adult until they are 15.

Since the appeal was published in the Mail two years ago, £500,000 has been raised to enable the International Animal Rescue charity (IAR) to build an orangutan sanctuary on 64 acres in Sungai Awan, Indonesian Borneo.

The red-haired babies sleep in a safe compound each night, and go out to play and rediscover their freedom in the forest enclosure every day.

Posted in: