Matang Wildlife Sanctuary Part 2: I Have a Gibbon, and she's Spectacular

I was really lucky to be given a special job, working with a Gibbon named Rosie. Rosie had been a pet living in someone's home for the past 15 years, but had been given to the sanctuary when she bit one of her owners. The staff noticed that she had become really stressed being away from regular human contact and had started doing lots of repetitive movements and plucking out a lot of her hair. So I was given the job of keeping Rosie company for an hour a day to ease her separation anxiety. It turns out that she was just the sweetest little thing ever. She would put her hand out whenever she saw me, and would even rest her hand on my hip. She would start off with an arm scratch for a few minutes, but when she was ready, she’d switch positions and sit with her back to me for her back scratch. She would make these little cooing noises the whole time so I knew she loved it. My time I spent with Rosie was my favourite. It was so calming and special to be able to make that connection with an animal that is so similar to us.

Rosie is eating some seeds out of my hand!

Rosie loves to have her arm scratched

We hold hands a lot

But the fact that Rosie was a pet is actually pretty alarming. The main reason that there are so many primates living at the wildlife sanctuary is that most of them were taken when they were just tiny babies to be sold as pets, used as attractions for photo opportunities, or in shows where they were made to perform. The sad fact is that 90% of these animals die before the age of 3. The ones that do survive become stronger than their trainers or owners between the age of 5-10 depending on the species, and then are likely to attack or cause too much of a problem and are either killed or surrendered to a place like Matang. Please don’t ever have a monkey as a pet, it just doesn’t make sense!

This little orangutan came in to the center while I was there. The person who reported it said fishermen found it floating in a river. But when the vet holding him examined him, he was found to be severely underweight and malnourished and was actually way older than anyone expected from his size. We weren't sure what really happened to him, but whatever it was, it wasn't good.  

Even though it seemed that Rosie was treated fairly well in her previous home, there were some other animals living at the center who just had terrible stories. The most shocking was Nora. She was a lovely Macaque who literally came from a horror story. In her previous home, the owner had several monkeys because he said he liked to watch them "play". When staff went in to investigate, they noticed no food for the animals, but piles of bones on the floor. They soon realized that he purposefully hadn’t been feeding them, thus forcing them to "play" a.k.a. fight to the death so they could eat each other because they had nothing else to eat. The sicko actually liked to watch. There sure are some crazies out there.

This is Nora, she is now part of a happy family at Matang. She lives with her partner Bob and they have 3 kids...
you can see little Jones in the background

One of our Orangutans came from a zoo where the keepers used to give her cigarettes to smoke because people thought a smoking Orangutan was so funny. In one day they gave her 220 cigarettes, think about that, 220 cigarettes in ONE day! The sad thing is, that would only happen on a typical weekend when there would be tons of people lined up to get a picture of her smoking. Then on the weekdays, with fewer people to impress, she would barely be given any. I'm not a smoker but I can imagine the withdrawals would be terrible! The good news is that since coming to Matang, she is now smoke free.

Bananas, not cigarettes!

The rehabilitation and release of primates is not simple at all, especially for animals that have been taken as babies and fed their entire lives by humans. They become so used to being around us and being provided with food that they basically lose the ability to be proper Orangutans. As much as I would like it, I could never take one out to the jungle, swing around and show it where all the fruit trees are and what time of year they would ripen. Only an Orangutan can teach an Orangutan how to be an Orangutan, and if they don’t learn those skills growing up from their mom in a natural habitat, a successful rehabilitation and release is very unlikely. Releasing an Orangutan that has lived all its life with humans would be like putting one of us in the middle of the jungle and saying ok, go forth and prosper. We just wouldn’t have the skills to survive because no one has ever taught us how to live in the jungle and we’d probably die instantly. Some of the younger Orangutans were being taught jungle skills with older Orangutans and will likely be released in the future, but that process takes many years. In the meantime it is good to know that the animals living at Matang are deeply cared for and are given the best life possible under the circumstances.

So the whole experience was amazing, if a little bittersweet. What an incredible experience to learn about and be so close to these beautiful, intelligent creatures and participate in their care. At the same time, it’s sad to know how humans treat them in general, and that so many will never get to experience the life they were meant to lead, swinging freely from tree to tree in the Borneo jungle wilderness.

There are few simple things we can all do to help. To help the Orangutan, don’t support these animals as pets, don’t support their use in the entertainment industry (even when taking pictures with a cute baby monkey on vacation – think about where it came from and where it will be in a few years!), and limit your use of products with palm oil to help stop habitat destruction.