Jingobid for Charity - ADOPT an Orangutan BABY!

CHARITY AUCTION details :

Adopt Baby Michelle - she is roughly 2 years old and was rescued in June 2009. She is an independent character and has come a long way in 5 months. She is a strong climber and loves her food! Jingobid will pay the full value of the adoption pack including postage. Additionally, the final auction price + value of any paid bids used in the auction in excess of the cost of adoption will be donated to the Sepilok Orangutan Appeal.

The winner's adoption pack will include a certificate, full history profile and photographs of your adopted baby, and the Appeals newsletter. The packs will also contain an Appeal jute bag and latest campaign literature. Every adoptive parent will be sent an update on their babies progress, plus their latest photographs and the next newsletter in the series after 6 months.

For more information about the Charity, visit: http://www.orangutan-appeal.org.uk/

About SEPILOK REHABILITATION CENTRE

Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre in the Malaysian Sabah District of North Borneo was founded in 1964, to rehabilitate orphan orang utans. The site is 43 sq km of protected land at the edge of Kabili Sepilok Forest Reserve. Today around 60 to 80 orang utans are living free in the reserve. Consequently, the land was turned into a rehabilitation site for orang utans, and a centre built to care for the apes. Today around 25 young orphan orang utans are housed in the nurseries, in addition to those free in the reserve.

The facility provides medical care for orphaned and confiscated orang utans as well as dozens of other wildlife species. Some of the other animals which end up being treated at the centre include; Sun Bears, Gibbons Sumatran Rhinos and the occasional injured Elephant.

In the wild orang utan babies stay with their mothers for up to six years while they are taught the skills they need to survive in the forest, the most important of which is climbing. At Sepilok a buddy system is used to replace a mother’s teaching. A younger ape will be paired up with an older one to learn the skills they need.

Before the creation of a reserve in the area, many young orang utans were the victims of the illegal pet trade throughout Asia. If they weren’t caught during logging or forest clearance, they were captured by poachers who slaughtered the adult apes to get at them. The Malaysian Government has clamped down on illegal trading, outlawing all such practice and imposing prison sentances on anyone caught keeping them as pets.

Youngsters kept in captivity often become sick or suffer neglect which in some cases extends to cruelty. Whilst some of the Orang utans raised as pets can never be returned to the wild, others can be rehabilitated, but it is a long and expensive process taking up to seven years, but one centres such as Sepilok take on without question.

For more information about the centre please visit: http://www.sabah.edu.my/srm012.wcdd/BM/menu1.html

(For chinese) http://www.sabahtourism.com/tc/attraction.php?id=101000032