The Orangutan Conservancy (OC) wishes to extend its heartfelt sympathy to the friends and family of Lucy Wisdom, the founder of the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS), who passed away on Dec. 19 following a lengthy illness.

Wisdom was 53.

Wisdom first became involved with orangutan conservation in 1994, and established the SOS two years later. Although Sumatran orangutans account for just one-seventh of the total wild population, Wisdom once said her work became increasingly important when it was confirmed in 2000 that Sumatran orangutans and Bornean orangutans are two separate sub-species.

“Once the Sumatran orangutans are lost they are lost forever,” she told The Jakarta Post in 2009.

SOS has established the Sumatra Orangutan Society Lucy Wisdom Fund, which will help fund a scholarship for an Indonesian post-graduate to study orangutans, purchase land in Sumatra as a wildlife sanctuary, and other conservation measures. Those wishing to contribute should send donations to:

Lucy Wisdom Fund
Sumatran Orangutan Society UK,
The Old Music Hall,106-108 Cowley Road,
Oxford OX4 1JE
United Kingdom

(If you are a British tax payer then please write your name and address ( first line + postcode only) on the back of the cheque, and indicate that you are a UK taxpayer and wish this donation to qualify under “the Gift Aid scheme”. This means your donation will have an extra 25% added to it by the Gift Aid scheme fund.)

Those wishing to contribute by bank transfer should direct funds to:

Sumatran Orangutan Society
Cooperative Bank
Sort Code: 089299
Account number: 65163432

OC president Norm Rosen said the conservation community will miss Wisdom’s leadership.

“Lucy was a real strong conservationist and she spent years fighting the battle,” he said.

Wisom’s commitment earned her international recognition and a steady stream of honors, including the UK’s Women in Ethical Business Award in 2008.

SOS has grown from its humble roots to a staff of 15 Medan, North Sumatra, which oversees SOS’s many on-the-ground projects. These include orangutan guide training, community tree planting, community education, tree nurseries, rehabilitation of degraded forest zones, conservation scholarships, palm oil plantation tours into lands that were once prime forests and information dissemination on the plight of orangutans to the global community.

For more information, please visit the SOS website.

(Source: OC staff)