TIME FOR PINGPONG TO BACK TO SCHOOL
His name is Pingpong. This male orangutan has an uncomfortable story when he had to go back and forth like pingpong ball because the man who found him didn’t know where to hand him over. Until finally, APE Defender team met him and took care of him. The cage become his barrier to express himself and school become his place to training.
In the middle of 2016, Pingpong moved to sanctuary island managed by COP Borneo Center of Orangutan Rehabilitation. “We hope Pingpong forced to be more independent by the circumstances and see other male orangutans develope. But unfortunately, living in sanctuary island is too hard for him. March 2017, We had to took Pingpong back to the cage because he was suffering from malnutrition.”, says Reza Kurniawan, COP’s primate anthropologist.
Both COP’s vets take turn to watch over his health. “Not much improvement, his behaviour hasn’t changed much either. Even when we took him back to the forest school, he was likely to be on the ground. It took a lot of effort to got him climbed the tree and stayed for a while.”, says drh. Flora.
Pingpong also often attacks the animal keeper by bitting them. “We dont’ want to lose hope, even Pingpong has the right to go back to his nature habitat.” says Idham, animal keeper who was watching him that day. Every orangutan is an unique individual, has their own characteristics that can’t be generalized with other orangutans. Help COP Borneo takes care of them through
SAAT PINGPONG KEMBALI SEKOLAH
Pingpong namanya. Orangutan jantan ini punya cerita yang tidak mengenakan, saat dia harus mondar-mandir seperti bola pingpong karena yang menemukannya tak tahu harus diserahkan kemana orangutan ini. Hingga akhirnya tim APE Defender bertemu dengannya dan merawatnya. Kandang menjadi pembatas untuknya berekspresi, dan sekolah menjadi tempatnya berlatih.
Pada pertengahan tahun 2016, Pingpong dipindahkan ke pulau orangutan yang dikelolah pusat rehabilitasi orangutan COP Borneo. “Kami berharap, Pingpong terpaksa dengan kondisi yang ada untuk lebih mandiri dan melihat orangutan jantan lainnya berkembang. Namun sangat disayangkan, kehidupan di pulau orangutan terlalu berat untuknya. Maret 2017, kami terpaksa menarik Pingpong ke kandang kembali karena Pingpong mengalami mal nutrisi.”, ujar Reza Kurniawan, antropologis primata COP.
Kedua dokter hewan COP saling bergantian mengawasi kesehatan Pingpong. “Tidak banyak perkembangannya, untuk prilakunya juga tidak banyak berubah. Bahkan saat kami membawanya ke sekolah hutan kembali, dia masih lebih suka berada di tanah. Perlu usaha keras agar dia mau memanjat pohon dan bertahan agak lama di sana.”, ujar drh. Flora.
Pingpong juga lebih sering menyerang animal keeper dengan cara menggigit. “Kami tidak mau berhenti berharap, Pingpong pun berhak untuk kembali ke alamnya.”, ujar Idham, animal keeper yang mengawasinya hari itu. Setiap orangutan adalah individu yang unik, punya karakter sendiri yang tak bisa disama ratakan dengan orangutan lainnya. Bantu COP Borneo merawat orangutan-orangutannya yuk lewat
