The Orangutan Conservancy, which has promoted the conservation of wild orangutans and their rainforest homes for a decade, will focus on the level of care at rehabilitation centers when it stages the Orangutan Conservancy (OC) Veterinary Workshop from August 5-9 in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The workshop will bring together veterinarians and technicians who care for orphaned orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo for a week of intensive training, seminars, and practical sessions.

More than 1,500 orangutans currently exist in rehabilitation centers, and many bears the physical and emotional scars of their capture. The OC Veterinary Workshop will address many of the injuries and illnesses that are unique to orphaned orangutans.

The OC Veterinary Workshop will be staged in collaboration with zoos in Europe and the United States and other OC partners in the Orangutan Crisis Coalition.

The OC Veterinary Workshop will also address emerging infectious diseases, and the health standards necessary to consider reintroducing any of the orangutans back into the wild.

“This workshop will target some of the most important veterinary issues currently facing orangutan care,” said Norm Rosen, president of the OC. “It’s no good to rescue orphaned orangutans and commit to a lifetime of care if we don’t have the skills or standards to ensure their health. But more than that, we want to make sure veterinarians in Sumatra and Borneo get the chance to learn the latest techniques and build the sort of network that can help save this important species.”

The OC Veterinary Workshop is modeled after a successful series of veterinary workshops for African primates that Rosen helped create through the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA). Steve Unwin, a veterinary officer at the Chester Zoo in the United Kingdom, will lead the OC workshop.

For more information, please visit the Orangutan Conservancy or contact click to email.

(Source: Orangutan Conservancy)