KUCHING: The Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) has introduced an orangutan adoption programme to raise funds and awareness of its conservation and rehabilitation work.
Launching the programme at SFC’s annual dinner on Friday, Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said Sarawak had always been serious about its conservation policies despite coming under attack from some non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
“We started thinking about saving the orangutan 50 years ago. We know it is difficult to rehabilitate the orangutan because it is a sensitive animal.
“So we can do without the smoke screen of misleading issues caused by certain NGOs which claim that the expansion of oil palm plantations is destroying orangutan habitats.
“What they don’t know is that the orangutan are not found throughout Sarawak but only in certain parts which we have designated as protected areas, such as Sebuyau and Lanjak-Entimau,” he said.
Taib, who pledged RM10,000 to the orangutan adoption programme, called on the SFC to publicise its conservation programmes so the people would know what the state was doing to protect its wildlife and biodiversity.
SFC chairman Datuk Dr Yusoff Hanifah said orangutan rehabilitation was an expensive undertaking, with the general care of each animal estimated at RM18,000 a year.
“I would like to urge conservation-minded corporations and individuals to support SFC in this endeavour,” he said.
He added that various adoption packages were available for corporate sponsors under the programme, ranging from Copper at RM10,000 for a one-year period to Platinum at RM100,000 for 10 years.
Individual adoption sponsorship is also available at RM200 a year.
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