Baby Orangutan Rescued 8 Years Ago Is Finally Ready For Release

People spend 8 years teaching this rescued baby orangutan how to be wild — then set him free ❤️

Transcript

00:00 Hello, Woody.

00:02 Yeah, Woody.

00:04 Woody was being kept as a pet.

00:06 A person that only volunteered to give him up.

00:09 He was getting very sick.

00:11 He was pretty emo.

00:13 I'm really sorry.

00:15 I'm sorry.

00:17 He was in a pretty sorry state when we got him.

00:21 I don't know how much longer he would have lasted.

00:23 Swollen, unable to move.

00:27 Really suffering from severe malnutrition.

00:30 Our specialist veterinary team, they got him straight onto a nutritional regime

00:35 so that he could start his journey to recovery.

00:39 A few weeks later, when they start the physiotherapy,

00:44 he's got the strength to hold onto their fingers.

00:48 And start the classic baby walking.

00:56 We spent quite a bit of time in the quarantine intensive care clinic area.

01:02 And during that time, we were just building up his strength.

01:07 It took about four months to go to baby school.

01:13 Baby school was really just about first interaction with the other smaller orangutans.

01:22 Is it OK, Angela?

01:25 It's about starting to climb.

01:29 Starting to eat proper food.

01:37 They're developing all the time and then they kind of move on, graduate to forest school.

01:50 And that's where it's really about starting to become a proper orangutan.

01:55 It's about building their confidence, spending less time on the ground.

01:59 And then gradually, as they're sort of getting bigger and stronger,

02:02 they're getting to the stage where you want them to spend the nights in the forest.

02:06 Woody, as he developed, considering how dependent he was at the beginning,

02:12 he became independent remarkably early in the process.

02:17 He was quite happy to spend his nights out in the forest.

02:22 Much younger than some of the other orangutans, which was great to see,

02:27 because obviously that kind of gets on the pathway to release.

02:31 We really need to be sure that they've got the very best chance of survival.

02:36 About four or five years later, he graduated.

02:40 Now to finally see him back in the jungle and him back where he belongs, still lovely.

02:48 [Music]