How do you prepare a primate that has spent its whole childhood in a cage for an independant life in the forest? This is a question we ask ourselves daily.

The Sumatran Orang-Utan Conservation Project endorses the confiscation of illegally held orang-utans, to then prepare them, in a comprehensive process, for a self-sufficient life in the forest.

The early success stories are encouraging. At the moment we are looking after more than 130 orang-utans in Bukit Tigapuluh, and four births among free-living animals have been recorded. The following pages describe the different steps that are necessary before an orang-utan can return to the wild.

The Sumatran Orang-Utan Conservation Project is a co-operation between the Frankfurt Zoological Society, the Indonesian Department for Forestry and Nature Conservation (PHKA) and the Swiss PanEco Foundation (www.paneco.ch).