Baby orangutan born in Dublin Zoo is moved to monkey sanctuary in England

By Ben Mitchell, PA

A monkey sanctuary in England has taken in an infant orangutan from Ireland which had become vulnerable after its mother had been unable to feed it.

Sibu Junior was born on July 31st at Dublin Zoo but despite efforts by staff to teach and encourage its mother to feed the youngster, it was decided to find a new home for it.

Now the 12-week-old male has been taken in by the European specialist orangutan creche at Monkey World – Ape Rescue Centre in Dorset, southern England.

A spokeswoman for the centre said: “Sibu Junior was born on July 31st and despite his mother clearly loving him, she did not possess the skills to position him so he could feed, so the difficult decision was taken to remove Sibu Junior to be hand reared, to save the youngster.

“The team at Dublin Zoo cared for Sibu Junior round the clock for the first couple months of his life, while arrangements were made to transfer him to Monkey World – Ape Rescue Centre.

“Monkey World is home to the European specialist orangutan crèche for orphaned and rejected infants, which aims to break the cycle of abandonment and help female orangutans rear their own young in future.”

Dr Alison Cronin, director of Monkey World, said: “It is really too bad that Sibu’s mother did not feed him, it was what everyone had hoped for.

“In the end, the team at Dublin Zoo saved the baby’s life and cared for him around the clock while necessary health checks and paperwork were completed for the transfer of the infant to Monkey World.

“It is so important that orphan orangutans grow up with others of their own kind.

“Monkey World specialises in the care of these very vulnerable infants and has specialist facilities to aid in their development and integration into the Nursery Creche.”

Dr Cronin added: “At present, Sibu is just over 3kg and is taking 90mls of formula at a time, throughout the day and night.

“He is not ready to the others just yet but it won’t be long before he is able to sit up and move around on his own.

“Then he can start spending days in the nursery and get to know some of the others that live there.

“Sibu’s future in the nursery creche is a long one as he will stay with us, growing up with other orangutans for the next 10 years before having an adult group of his own someday.”

Monkey World has cared for 10 orphan orangutans from seven countries with the nursery and its foster mother Oshine, a Bornean orangutan, currently caring for four other youngsters.