Anaesthetising orangutans: an excerpt from official orangutan rescue protocols.

Orangutan rescue teams in Indonesia are equipped with and need to follow a detailed set of official procedures  and instructions. Here we present a translated excerpt from the official government guidelines for anaesthetising wild orangutans prior to moving them. These give us a glimpse of skill and flexibility demanded by such rescues, as well as rescuers’ own emotional involvement in these exercises.

4. Anaesthetising

When the position of the orangutan has become visible and has been blocked off, the rescue team should swiftly estimate how heavy the orangutan is so that they can quickly fill the syringe with the appropriate number of doses of anaesthetic. Several things must be considered at this stage:

a. Estimate the weight of the orangutan’s body.

b. Calculate how many doses of anaesthetic must be prepared (following methods of estimating dosage).

c. Immediately prepare two anaesthetic doses in two separate syringes in case the first shot does not hit the target.

d. Ensure that the anaesthesia needle is not blocked, and that it is tightly attached and covered with the rubber seal.

e. Ensure that the air connectors are completely filled and do not leak.

f. Put the syringe that is ready to be fired into the tranquilizer gun and make sure the back cover is tight.

g. Ensure that the safety mechanism of the tranquilizer gun is locked before pumping pressure into the weapon.

h. Estimate how far away the orangutan is to determine the amount of bars of pressure in the weapon.

i. Find a comfortable and safe shooting position.

j. Find a target that is appropriate and safe, try to aim for the thighs, or at least the upper back or rear parts of the orangutan’s body.

k. Never shoot from the front/facing the orangutan, the risk of hitting the face, genitals or belly of the orangutan is too great.

l. Only when you are certain that you and your target are in the correct positions should you unlock the safety mechanism of the gun and shot.

m. After the shot has hit the target, look and make sure that the drug has entered and carefully observe the orangutan’s reaction to the drug.

n. Meanwhile the others [team members] should be already standing by below with the net to prevent the orangutan from falling directly to the ground.

o. Make sure that there are no dangerous tree stumps or bumps below.

All team members must master their respective skills and have strong instincts (senses), because in the field, things don’t always work out as planned. For example, we may have already prepared the net below, but in the moment that the orangutan falls, its hand or feet might still hold onto or get stuck behind another branch, so that the orangutan falls far away from the prepared net. Sometimes, also, before being completely tranquilised, the orangutan may climb very high, look for a place in the branches or even get into a nest, and thus will not fall, so that a team member must climb the tree to get the orangutan. For things like that, therefore, climbing equipment must also always be prepared so that the safety of the team member as well as the orangutan itself is guaranteed. However, there are also incidents that make the rescue team laugh and feel happy. There have been several orangutans that, before being totally anaesthetised, slowly climbed down from the tree to the ground, until all that remained to do for the team below was to catch the orangutan, put it directly into the cage when the car was nearby, or put it in the net for carrying when the car was far away. Many unique and strange incidents have been encountered in the field.

From FORINA, BOSF, YOSL-OIC, PANECO-YEL-SOCP, IAR INDONESIA, YP, FZS, RHOI, OF-UK, COP, UNMUL, UNAS, BKSDA. 2013. ‘4. Pembiusan’. In B. Tahapan Pelaksanaan in Panduan Rescue (Penyelamatan) Orangutan Liar. Jakarta: Kementerian Kehutanan, Direktorat Jenderal Perlindungan Hutan dan Konservasi Alam Direktorat Konservasi Keanekaragaman Hayati, pp. 14-15.

Surprise

Soaked to the bone,
I’m cold and wet.
Then an appearance is made,
and out comes the sun, I have a chance to dry.
Indah is feeding on inverts galore,
and Indy is somewhere swinging around.
Then suddenly a family of gibbons appear,
flying high through the canopy above.
What a sight,
I forget I’m cold.

Helen writes: ‘Written on 5th March 2005 while following Indah and Indy, a mother-offspring pair. It was the middle of the rainy season and the forest was very wet. After waking from their nest, they had settled to feed in a big fruiting tree. As I had fallen in the swamp on my way to the nest, I was very wet and cold, but as the light from the morning sun shone through the canopy, this was a welcome sight and a privilege to see a group of gibbons pass so close by. It is always so special to see other wildlife when out on a follow. Every day is different, and it makes one forget how hard follows can sometimes be when you are tired and wet’.

Orangutan follow.

Orangutan researcher Helen Morrogh-Bernard recounts the slightly unusual circumstances in which this particular follow took place.

This follow was on Beethoven, a large flanged male, which took place on the 8th May 2005. Beethoven was the first orangutan we habituated and followed. He was the dominant male at that time. On this follow, we had a film crew join to film footage for Michaela’s Wildlife Challenge, a kids’ TV show, where the presenter was challenged to live like an orangutan for a day, eat what he ate and build and sleep in a nest (Series 3, episode 9. Manta Ray/Orangutan/Wildlife Sanctuary). Then they would either pass or fail the challenge! On this day, Beethoven took them on a big adventure, travelling fast and far. They were a team of three and had to carry all their gear through the wet dense swamp. It was a challenge indeed, and the map shows you how far Beethoven travelled, nearly 1.5km that day. This is far for an orangutan in one day, and hard for a camera crew to keep up.

The follow started at 4.59am and this is the activity sheet at 9.45, we had already been up for nearly 5 hours and it was still just the morning. On this day, Beethoven had travelled far and spent lots of time feeding on many different food types including termites. This also meant Ellie Harrison, the presenter had to eat them as well! Eleven and a half hours later, at 4.35pm, he eventually made his night nest by tying lots of small trees together. This would be a challenge for the film crew, but not for Beethoven, who wove his nest in minutes, showing his strength and architectural ability!

Spirit offerings.

‘Ah, karena ku mohon, ya teman ku datang, lengkap cukup yang kudatang, bukan hanya meminta-minta memohon-mohon, dikatakan cukup dengan sirih kapur sebatang, dengan tuak lauk, yang ku mau ku sedekahkan dengan duhan, jangan sampai duhan menjakat, memodih, nyembalani, dengan anak buah ku, entah dari mana, setiap sida’ bekunjung, tolong, tak rinding. Maklum, kalau kai ndak bepadah bebilang, kadang kadang duhan ada yang nakal, ada yang jajal’.

‘Ah, because I ask for my friends that have come. We have come pretty complete, not merely asking and begging. It is said […] some betel leaves and lime is enough, some rice wine and meat that I want to offer to you, so that you will not tease, hurt, cause disaster to my friends, wherever they are from, every time they come, please, don’t scare them. Understandably, if we don’t speak and inform you, sometimes there are those among you that are naughty, that try [something naughty]’.

While the midday sun caused the chicken gut to contract and push out its dark green content, the ceremonial leader, demong, delivered a long monologue intended as much for his human audience as for the place spirits. The spirits were informed at length about planned forest fire mitigation activities by the company that works closely with orangutan conservationists to sustainably manage the area. Chicken, sticky rice and rice wine were offered to dissuade the spirits from trying any tricks.

At the same time, the company staff that were present could not miss the underlying message. The spirits care little for their government license. Anyone who wants to work here—even if it’s for a good cause like preventing wildfire—must rely on local mediation to avoid supernatural repercussions. The demong also made clear that any security provided was conditional: ‘That is if, so to say, they don’t cross boundaries [do inappropriate things]. But if they cross boundaries, then it’s up to you [to react as is fitting]’. (‘Kalau seandai kata sida’ tak lewat batas. Tapi kalau sida’ melewati batas, terserah duhan dah am’.) Knowledge of local spirits and protocols for dealing with them play an important part in indigenous claims to control over territory.