The Orangutan Conservancy, which helped broker the negotiations with Hollywood animal trainers that resulted in the donation this week of six orangutans to the Great Ape Trust of Iowa, hailed the deal as a positive step for conservation.

The first two orangutans – a 19-year old female named Katy (pictured above) and her three-year old son, Rocky – arrived at the Des Moines, Iowa, facility on July 12. The remaining four will follow over the course of the summer.

“This is wonderful news, not only for the orangutans that worked in entertainment, but also for wild orangutans in Indonesia,” said Norm Rosen, president of the Orangutan Conservancy. “The idea of laughing at an orangutan in a television commercial or a greeting card might seem harmless, but there is a very direct correlation between the way we view orangutans in America or Europe and the way they are perceived in Southeast Asia.”

Added Rosen: “The sooner we stop regarding orangutans as props, the sooner we’ll be able to make effective arguments to the governments of Indonesia and Malaysia to protect them and the forests in which they live.”

The six orangutans – two males and four females – were donated to the Great Ape Trust of Iowa by Steve Martin’s Working Wildlife, which was the last major supplier of trained orangutans for television, films and advertising. Rocky was generally regarded as the most visible orangutan in media today, having appeared in recent television advertisements for Capital One and Aflac and an Elle magazine spread with pop star Fergie of the Black-Eyed Peas.

The transfer follows almost six months of careful negotiations with Steve Martin’s Working Wildlife, which were begun by Orangutan Conservancy vice president Doug Cress following discussions with Dr. Rob Shumaker, director of the orangutan research program at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa and a member of the Orangutan Conservancy board of directors.

“This was a matter of finding common ground,” Cress said. “Nobody was ever that far apart in terms of the issues. We all understood what was at stake, and what this meant. We just had to find a way to make it work logistically.”

Steve Martin and his wife, Donna, were convinced to donate their orangutans and cease that aspect of their business after visiting the Great Ape Trust of Iowa facilities in June.

Steve Martin said he believes the orangutans will have a good quality of life at Great Ape Trust. “You can tell they are going to have a wonderful home here,” he said. “We are extremely happy to see the facility and the upgrade in their socialization opportunities.”

(Source: Orangutan Conservancy)