At 5 p.m. on Dec. 3, Colleen Reed, from Orangutan Outreach, will inform students at Edinboro University about the fact that orangutans are facing death, torture, abuse, capture and are being illegally sold as pets at an alarming rate.“People need to know,” said Katrina Spirko, the orchestrator of the event and a senior at Edinboro, majoring in elementary education and early childhood education, with a minor in environmental studies.
Spirko has always been interested in the great apes and became personally involved when she discovered Orangutan Outreach through her research.
According to their website, some of Orangutan Outreach’s main goals are to protect orangutans in their native habitat, to promote public awareness of conservation strategies, and to fund rescue efforts of orangutans.
Orangutan Outreach is based largely on volunteering and provides the opportunity for people to adopt orangutans and sponsor them as they go through the rehabilitation program, Spirko explained.
“With her fluffy hair, her big bright eyes and her Mona Lisa smile, Luna stole everyone’s hearts,” Richard Zimmerman, executive director of Orangutan Outreach, posted on their website.
But, last April, Zimmerman received a devastating phone call. Luna had gone missing.
“I remember the day I heard about it,” Spirko said. “I cried. I love her so much and even though I’ve never met her, I feel like she’s really special [to me].”
According to Zimmerman’s blog, police and army officials were involved with the search as well as a team from Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN) and Center for Orangutan Prevention (COP), which are all based in Indonesia.
“[We’re] working tirelessly to find information about Luna,” Zimmerman said, as they made regular sweeps through local villages and sought out leads on local smugglers and wildlife traffickers.
Femke den Haas, founding director of JAAN, wrote, “It is simply not believable that a baby orangutan can just ‘disappear’ like that.”
But now, after months of searching and trying to figure out what had happened to her, a memorial has been posted on the Outreach’s website. According to Spirko, it seems like they’re losing hope of ever finding her again.
“She may very well have been captured by wildlife smugglers and sold,” said Zimmerman, “She may even have been smuggled out of Indonesia by now.”
In order to help raise awareness of what is happening to the great apes, Spirko and members of Students of Edinboro for Environmental Defense (SEED) are organizing a presentation.
“I hope the room is packed and that people will be willing to donate,” said Spirko. “I want people to know [Luna’s] story, because if she is dead, I don’t want her to have died in vain. For me personally… it’s a shout-out for Luna.”
More information on Orangutan Outreach can be found at their website, www.redapes.org.
by 
Leave a Reply