Center For Great Apes E-news, September 23^rd 2009

By Patti Ragan, Center for Great Apes (Florida, USA)

Earlier this month, I attended the annual Orangutan Workshop at Zoo Atlanta.  Wonderful ideas come from these workshops where caregivers, supervisors, curators, and veterinarians come together to discuss ways to better care for captive orangutans in zoo and sanctuary environments.  Health issues, diet and nutrition, enrichment, and space for normal behavior are topics covered for several days. Everyone comes away from the meetings with more ideas to make lives better for the orangutans in their care. 

While we work hard at the Center for Great Apes to provide the best possible care for orangutans and chimpanzees who have come to us from entertainment, private pet situations, and roadside zoos…we cannot ignore the crisis facing orangutans in the wild in Borneo and Sumatra.  Gratuitous destruction of native habitats and deforestation to provide more land for logging concessions and unsustainable palm oil production has resulted in the deaths of 6000 orangutans this past year alone! 

What can we do in our lives and communities to help stop this horrific situationω  READ LABELS when you shop, and don’t buy anything with palm oil… or at the very least be aware of the ingredients and drastically cut your consumption of palm oil.  Citizens in Australia, New Zealand, and England objecting to manufacturers over their use of palm oil in soap and food products have made a difference in the way some corporations manufacture their goods.  Cadbury stopped using palm oil in their chocolates because citizens boycotted Cadbury products.  Kentucky Fried Chicken (in Australia) has stopped using palm oil for their food and switched to canola oil blends.   

Palm oil is the greatest threat to orangutans’ survival.  Please become aware and stop buying products containing unsustainable palm oil.  Ultimately, if consumers stop buying these products, we CAN make a difference in the lives of wildlife (including orangutans) that depend on the forests for their food and survival.

Others links:
https://www.projetogap.org.br/en-US/noticias/Show/2474,palm-oil-as-biofuel
https://www.projetogap.org.br/en-US/noticias/Show/2318,deforestation-in-borneo-and-sumatra-is-alarming-says-wwf
https://www.projetogap.org.br/en-US/noticias/Show/2309,great-primates-in-the-way-to-extinction