SAWPOD HELPS VOLUNTEERS GO APE FOR ORANGUTANS

Sawpod is helping volunteers working with Orangutans in Borneo to teach the apes how to climb!

It’s very apt employment for Tony! One of his former trainees, Rob Franklin, called to say he was off to Borneo to work at an Orangutan rehabilitation centre on a project with 220 Orangutans and 50 Sun bears.

“Orangutans and Sun bears are a fair bit better at climbing than humans and would probably even give you a run for your money,” explained Rob. “But in order to rehabilitate them we need to be able to teach them to climb. One of the facilitators at the rehabilitation centre climbs like a monkey to put food in the trees to encourage the Orangs to climb, but with no rope and harness he could have an accident leaving no one to teach the bears and apes.” Rob thought it would also be nice to be able to lift volunteers into the trees safely to give them an Orang’s eye view of the work.

As a result, Rob needed a rope and harness so Tony decided it would be great to help out these fantastic animals. He sent Rob out to Borneo with a climbing kit supplied by Sawpod and now we have come up with a tee shirt to raise some funds for the charity and will be selling them at trade shows throughout the next couple of months, So look out for Tony and Di and help the Orangs, who are under threat of extinction in the wild.

The Great Orangutan Project (GOP) is a collection of projects designed to save the Orangutan and help local communities. All GOP projects are based in Malaysia and Borneo and each has the shared vision of increasing the size and health of Bornean Orangutan populations.

Human activity is directly responsible for the rapid, large-scale decline of Orangutan populations in parts of Asia, according to a new gene study. Decline may be steeper than previously thought and the apes are perilously close to oblivion.

“Conservationists have long believed that Orangutan declines in Indonesia and Malaysia are linked to habitat loss due to logging and the subsequent conversion of forests into oil-palm plantations,” added Tony. “As a human who depends on trees for his survival, I thought it only right to give whatever help I could.”

Orangutan T Shirts now available from:

Treeworker - http://www.treeworker.co.uk/acatalog/New_Products.html

For more information take a look at: http://www.orangutanproject.com  

Sawpod are proud sponsors of The Great Orangutan Project