His mother was killed, probably by a home-made long hunting rifle, somewhere in Central Kalimantan where humans were encroaching into the orangutan forest habitat. Iskandar still a baby clinging to his mother’s body was brutally taken from her dying body. We do not know how many times he was sold and passed on till he was put on a boat that took him from Borneo to Java and from there onward to Sulawesi after which a trip over land followed to the North Sulawesi province. From there he was to join many other animals from Kalimantan, including two sunbears and gibbons, to be smuggled to the nearby Philippines. From the Philippines thousands of protected animals have been smuggled all around the world. Unlike many other cases this time the effort was stopped and Iskandar and the other wildlife were confiscated and brought to Masarang’s Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue and Education centre. There he was shortly after joined by another smuggled Bornean male orangutan baby that was named Bento. All orangutan rehabilitation centres were already overwhelmed with locally rescued orangutans that needed priority over the expensive repatriation of these two male orangutans. When they became too big it became more and more difficult to repatriate them. Iskandar and Bento were much beloved by all the staff and all the wonderful volunteers at the Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue Centre over the years. There are so many people that have supported our work and so many persons that were involved in the care of Iskandar and Bento that we cannot mention here one by one but we are very grateful to all their love and dedication to our efforts to help these magnificent beings.
It was only with the opening of a new centre in East Kalimantan that Iskandar and Bento were given a chance to be the first two fully grown males to become part of an experimental all-male orangutan sanctuary approach for orangutan victims with no chance on normal rehabilitation like them. With the help of the Arsari Foundation the complicated and difficult transport from Sulawesi back to Borneo was arranged over land, ferry and land again, accompanied by their most trusted keepers and Simon Purser who was the Tasikoki manager for over 7 years. Noldy was the head primate keeper at Tasikoki who was one of the primate keepers that took care of Iskandar and Bento for 14 years and when he heard that Iskandar had passed away in Kalimantan he cried. Here beneath Noldy describes how Iskandar was during the years he spent with Is and Bento:
Is was very smart and sneaky. When the computer touch screens were installed in the cage of Is and Bento he learned very quick to push on the drawings of the fruit and then he would get that fruit on the other side of the cage. But if pictures of fruit that he did not like would appear on the computer screen that was protected by thick glass he would hit the screen hard in frustration.
Is would always try to find weak spots in the cage construction. He also timed his escape efforts to the weekends when there would be fewer staff around and he seemed to know about Christmas because every December 25th he would take his chance and try to break out of this cage when the least amount of staff would be around. He was always on the lookout for pieces of wood or strong branches that he would use to try to break down any weak spot in the huge facility where he and Bento were staying. He once somehow had gotten hold of a metal bar but kept it hidden whenever somebody was around. At night he would go to work and use the metal bar to break open welds! After we spied on him for many hours we finally saw where he had hidden the metal bar and how he used it to destroy the cage!
Is even once stole and hid a pair of pliers and used it to loosen the bolts of the door. He always negotiated with the keepers about the amount and type of fruits he should be offered before he would exchange his rock/stick/bar/tool for the bounty. Is would always observe what people were doing and imitated them. When the keepers were cleaning so would he inside his facility. He was absolutely focussed when any tool use during repairs was taking place.
When Is would challenge Bento he normally lost, but when he would be separated during or after such a fight he would just sit sad and kept looking at Bento as if he did miss him. Once he had a wound and he knew that the doctor could help him and let her treat his wound. When Is sometimes stopped eating he normally would develop a flu. Then the only thing he would take with difficulty and in small quantities was fruit juice. It would take two or three days before he would gradually start eating normal again.
When it was time to take Is and Bento to Kalimantan I was very happy. It was very difficult four days with a big truck and then a day on the boat from Palu to Balikpapan and Is managed to destroy his super strong stainless steel transport cage. Simon (Purser) and I would try to sit with Is in the back of the moving truck which helped keeping him less stressed. He was so happy to see his very big new facility there and the good team that was taking care of them led by Odom. It was the first time I saw the big trees of the forest of Kalimantan and I was happy Is would finally go to the forest. Now I am very sad that he did not make it but we tried everything for him and Bento.”
(as recorded from an interview with Noldy on January 18th, 2021)
Beneath are some pictures of the Arsari Center where the team was getting ready to release Iskandar to the 254 hectare large Kalawasen Island.
Above the socialization facility to introduce various adult male orangutans to each other.
The Arsari team. Top from left to right: Wiwiek Sintya, project leader Odom, Echa Openg, Berta Busa. Bottom from left to right: paramedic Rajuli, Fernando Rama, veterinarian Putu Suandhika, M. Nur and Samsul.
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