UNBEKNOWN to the majority of the public, the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre (SORC) in Sabah falls short of being an ethical and responsible rehabilitation centre for our country’s most iconic wildlife species, and those who care about orangutans need to be aware of SORC’s self-imposed flaws.

Both the volunteering and tourism practices have been exposed and condemned and yet the state government appears to continue to prioritise financial interests instead of securing the future of our orangutans.

Every month, British company Travellers Worldwide sends up to 12 unqualified paying individuals to SORC to be part of the rehabilitation of orphaned SORC orangutans, with authorisation from the Sabah Wildlife and Natural Parks Department.

Each individual pays US$3,180 (RM13,400). According to its website, these individuals, called “volunteers”, are able to, among others, monitor, feed and manage orangutans under rehabilitation for potential forest release.

However, this volunteering practice, which can and should be done by permanent SORC staff only, can have serious negative impacts for orangutans under rehabilitation and yet has continued for more than 15 years.

Without their mothers, orphan orangutans need familiarity and trust and should, therefore, only be exposed to and bond with as minimal number of caregivers as possible in their early years as the apes are guided through the rehabilitation process.

Having ever-changing personnel working with rehabilitant orangutans increases the risk of the apes becoming far too comfortable with humans, thus increasing the instance of human habituation as these animals’ interests are diverted away from natural behaviours and interactions within the forest environment.

It is no surprise that SORC has for many years faced major problems with orangutans habituated to humans, made worse by its unethical and unsustainable orangutan tourism. Moreover, the tourism at SORC doesn’t abide by conservation guidelines set by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN.

Orangutan conservationists have warned of the serious risks of rehabilitant orangutans becoming habituated to humans, such as encouraging terrestriality, which has been linked to increased vulnerability to predation, deficient nesting skills, poor arboreal travel, inefficient foraging, increased vulnerability to poachers and physical attacks on humans.

It is, therefore, not a surprise that an adult SORC orangutan’s release into Tabin reserve failed in late 2018 and another orangutan attacked a tourist at SORC before that.

Orangutan conservationists also recommend that rehabilitation be limited to a closed, qualified and stable group of people who always work with the same orangutans, ideally through their entire rehabilitation.

These few dedicated caregivers promote trust and provide social and emotional support to rehabilitants. Ethical orangutan rehabilitation centres in Indonesia don’t allow volunteering or tourism at their centres.

We informed Travellers Worldwide and Sabah the effects the volunteering practice can have on the rehabilitant orangutans at SORC, yet thus far we have yet to receive a response.

For almost 20 years, the Sabah Wildlife Department supplied SORC orangutans to a luxury hotel in the state under the pretence of rehabilitation. It took a campaign to stop the exploitation in 2016.

The fact that it has taken another campaign to compel the department to do the right thing raises serious questions about its legitimacy and motives.

Almost 200 organisations worldwide have urged the state government to cease the exploitative volunteering programme, and our organisation is determined to campaign until it stops.

Join our campaign to help stop the exploitation of SORC orangutans. The public can sign and share our petition here. – January 14, 2020.

* Upreshpal Singh is director, Friends of the Orangutans (Malaysia).

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.