This article has been updated with details and photos of the successful release of Alba and Kika.

A Bornean orangutan named Alba, who is believed to be the only albino orangutan alive in the world, is about to be released back into the wild by the Directorate General for Natural Resources and Ecosystem Conservation (KSDAE)¹ in collaboration with the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF).

Alba is to be released in the Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park in the Katingan Regency of Central Kalimantan tomorrow along with another female orangutan, Kika.

The release team of about twenty people are taking the two orangutans deep into the forest. The trip will take between 16 and 18 hours and will include four to five hours travelling up the Bemban River.

Alba was rescued in April last year by the BOSF in cooperation with the Central Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA).

She was five years old and had been held captive for two days by local residents in the village of Tanggirang in the Kapuas Hulu sub-district of the Kapuas Regency. She still displayed wild behaviour when confiscated.

“She was stressed, dehydrated, weak, suffering from a parasite infection, and displaying a poor appetite,” BOSF CEO Jamartin Sihite  said at the time.

“During her first few days at our orangutan rehabilitation and reintroduction centre at Nyaru Menteng, she would only eat sugarcane.”

On arrival, Alba was cared for around the clock by a veterinary team. ”Because of her sensitivity to sunlight, she was kept in a dimly lit, enclosed quarantine facility,” Sihite explained.

Alba when she first arrived at Nyaru Menteng.

Alba gradually started to accept more varied foods, and milk, and her physical condition has significantly improved.

There was an international campaign to choose a name for the orangutan, and the name Alba, which means white in Latin and dawn in Spanish, was chosen.

Kika was also five years old when she was rescued by a Central Kalimantan BKSDA team in February 2017 in Buntok in Indonesia’s South Barito Regency.

Kika when she arrived at Nyaru Menteng.

Once released, both orangutans will be followed and observed daily by a post-release monitoring team in the national park.

The BOSF had earlier considered creating a special forest island for Alba, but the goverment later decided that she should go to the national park and the BOSF says it fully supports that decision.

“As the implementing partner for this release, the BOS Foundation endeavours to use all of their experience to support the government’s plans, and make this release the most successful it possibly can be,” Sihite said.

“Alba has consistently displayed sound climbing skills and now moves with ease around the branches of the trees at Nyaru Menteng and these are good indicators that she may be ready to live in the wild.”

The director of biodiversity conservation at the KSDAE, Indra Exploitasia, said she welcomed the release of Alba and Kika, which she said corresponded with “the government’s commitment to increasing wildlife populations in their natural habitats”.

She explained that, according to current regulations, animals can be released back to their natural habitat provided they are in good physical health, the species has high genetic diversity, and the release location is part of the original distribution area of the species to be released.

Research conducted in the Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park has shown that orangutans have historically ranged there.

The governor of Central Kalimantan, Sugianto Sabran, also welcomed the orangutans’ release, and the decision to keep Alba in Kalimantan.

“Everyone needs to work hard to support the conservation of Alba and other orangutans in Central Kalimantan,” the governor said.

The head of the Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park Authority, Heru Raharjo, said that a joint study conducted with the BOSF identified seven potential zones for orangutan reintroduction in the park.

Two of the potential zones, which are located near the Bemban and Mahalat rivers, have large rainforest and lowland areas, making them very suitable orangutan release sites.

“The area is spacious with natural boundaries, is a suitable habitat for monitoring, and is able to support a decent wild population,” Heru Raharjo said.

“We estimate that the area can accommodate up to two hundred orangutans. We also highly appreciate the strong support shown by surrounding communities.”

Since 2012, and including Alba and Kika, the BOS Foundation has released 386 orangutans in three sites: 175 to the Bukit Batikap Conservation Forest in Central Kalimantan, 114 to the Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park, and 97 to the Kehje Sewen forest in East Kalimantan.

Critically endangered

In 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) changed the classification of the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) from endangered to critically endangered, citing the main causes of its population decline as habitat loss and fragmentation, primarily for logging and oil palm plantations, along with illegal hunting and fires.

There are estimated to be between 55,000 and 62,000 Bornean orangutans living in the wild, split into three distinct subspecies.

The Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) is also listed as critically endangered. There are now only about 14,600 left in the wild.

The IUCN says the population trend is a decrease for both species.

1. Indonesia’s KSDAE comes under the country’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry. The BKSDA represents the ministry at provincial level. 

Update 21/12/2018:

Alba and Kika were successfully released on Wednesday (December 19) and the BOS Foundation reports that they have both shown natural behaviour such as climbing trees, foraging, and nest building.

The monitoring team will carry out intensive, dawn-to-dusk observation for the coming six months and will evaluate the orangutans’ progress in the forest.

A team from the national park authority and Central Kalimantan BKSDA will conduct security patrols.

“The first and second days of observation post-release have confirmed that Alba is actively moving in the forest canopy at more than 35 metres off the ground,” Jamartin Sihite reported. “Observations, however, have yet to confirm that she has successfully adapted to forest life.”

All photos of Alba, and the photo of Kika, are courtesy of the BOS Foundation.