The Orangutan Conservancy, which raises funds and awareness on behalf of orangutan projects in Southeast Asia, today directed $12,000 in support from the Saint Louis Zoo to the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project (KOCP) in the northern Borneo region of Sabah.

The funds will be used to conduct studies of habituated orangutans in Sabah, support KOCP wildlife surveys in the region, and contribute to awareness and capacity-building events organized by KOCP.

“The Orangutan Conservancy is pleased to partner with the Saint Louis Zoo to support this valuable work in Borneo,” said Norm Rosen, president of the Orangutan Conservancy. “We believe the work of KOCP is of vital importance to the future of orangutans in Sabah, and the Saint Louis Zoo support will go a long way towards making that effort successful.”

The announcement was made at the 2008 SSP Orangutan Husbandry Workshop, which is being held October 12-14 at the Saint Louis Zoo.

The Saint Louis Zoo funds are comprised of a $10,000 grant from the zoo’s WildCare Institute and $2,000 donated by the zoo’s primate keepers, who raised the money through activities conducted as part of Primate Awareness Week activities in 2007 and 2008. The keepers sold artwork painted by the zoo’s great apes, in addition to staging informational talks and educational activities on behalf of primate conservation.

Primate ape keeper Kim Burchard said she hopes the success of the Primate Awareness Week will inspire other zoos to get involved.

“I can’t describe the feeling of being able to help,” Burchard said. “We actually based a lot of our activities on things other zoos were doing, and we try to get better every year. The important thing is that it was entirely keeper-driven, and we’re proud of that fact.”

KOCP was created in 1998 and works to educate and empower local communities to protect the fragile ecosystem in Sabah, which lies in the Malaysian section of northern Borneo. It is estimated that 60 percent of the wild orangutans in the region live outside the national parks, making conservation education and outreach a priority.

Fewer than 61,000 orangutans remain in the wild and are classified as “most endangered.” Orangutans are confronted by illegal logging, hunting, human encroachment and other factors, and experts predict that orangutans will cease to exist in the wild within 25 years at the current rate of decline.