PRESS RELEASE
18 September 2015
ORANGUTAN SHOWS A PUBLIC HEALTH RISK – AND MUST BE STOPPED NOW.
Conservationists from Indonesian NGO groups SCORPION and Indonesian Friends of the Animals (IFOTA) are asking the government to immediately ban shows such as those at Taman Safari where orangutans are forced to interact with the public.
Marison Guciano, director of IFOTA said, “No orangutan would ever choose to meet and have their photograph taken with people. At Taman Safari they are forced to do so. And then visitors are encouraged to laugh at them. This is now way to treat the orangutan – an endangered species and a national icon of our country. It’s time the public shows were stopped for good.”
Orangutans are disappearing fast from the wild and we need to show them our respect in captivity.
No orangutan ever chooses to be kept in a zoo; to them A ZOO is like a prison with no hope of release. They are highly intelligent as well as sensitive. Exploiting them for fun and money is cruel and shows a callous disrespect for the species.
Gunung Gea, CEO of SCORPION adds, “What the public don’t know but Taman Safari and other zoos should do is, close contact with humans can be lethal for both orangutans and humans. Scientists, specialist veterinary surgeons and orangutan experts will tell you human diseases such as TB, typhoid, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C can be easily passed on to orangutans and be life threatening. Equally, orangutans can pass TB and other diseases to people. Allowing close contact is irresponsible.”
“Throughout Indonesia zoos treat our only great ape with contempt. This, we suspect, is largely because of lack of knowledge, but this is not an acceptable excuse. Information and expertise is readily available on the internet or from NGO groups,” said Gunung Gea who is also the Vice-Chairman of the Forum for Sumatran Orangutan Conservation (FOKUS/Forum Konservasi Orangutan Sumatera).
Marison Guciano, Director of IFOTA said, “We are asking the people of Indonesia to not attend zoos which use orangutans in shows or any form of public entertainment. It’s for their own safety as well as the welfare of the orangutans.”
At Indonesia’s Orangutan Rescue Centers no one is allowed near an orangutan without having first passed a very stringent and long health check, including foreigners who must first have spent 10 days in Indonesia free of any health issues.
At Taman Safari anyone who has paid money can touch orangutans and that is wrong as well as a serious mutual health risk.
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