Kuching, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 – A male baby orang-utan was today handed over to SARAWAK FORESTRY Corporation by responsible Samaritans.  Suspected to be around 6-month old, the orang-utan was found by Tay Choon Yong, 46 and Kanang anak Langkau, 63 in Sri Aman.  They came across a 10-year old boy playing with the baby orang-utan near a longhouse near Lingga area in Sri Aman. 

Kanang, a former army officer, said, “The boy is believed to be in possession of the orang-utan for quite some time and we felt responsible to put this orphan orang-utan at the rightful place.  Then we contacted SARAWAK FORESTRY Corporation as we know they are the authority for the protected wildlife.”

The baby orang-utan was discovered on the recent Good Friday, April 10.  Today, both Tay and Kanang came to Semenggoh Wildlife Centre to hand over the baby orang-utan.  Receiving on behalf of SARAWAK FORESTRY was Wilfred Landong, Chief Park Warden in a touching ceremony witnessed by members of the media. 

SARAWAK FORESTRY will immediately bring over the newly found baby orang-utan to Matang Wildlife Centre, where several thorough check-up will be done.  The orang-utan will undergo a serious rehabilitation process and will be given special care as he is still an infant and was brought in without his mother. 

Wilfred said, “We shall do a thorough investigation on this case as to find out how and why this had happened.” He believed there is a possibility of orang-utan’s existence around the area or perhaps a new habitat of orang-utan in Sri Aman where this baby was found. 

SFC will study and investigate as they need to protect the orang-utan habitat.  Wilfred said, “we will conduct a study to find out if there are other orang-utans being kept as pets or in the wild”.

Meanwhile, the baby orang-utan will be named ‘Semanggang’ as requested by Tay and Kanang to give honour to the old name of Sri Aman, where he was found. 

“Semanggang is now in good hands as we at SFC have wildlife experts at our Matang Wildlife Centre to look into his well being and progress” said Wilfred.  “Ultimately we wish that he could join other orang-utans in the wild after going through our rehabilitation process.”