@Zoofan15 Was Pulang originally going to be released? Her name does mean ‘Going home’, so it’s interesting to know that at this time Perth were already planning for the release of some of their Orangutans into the wild.
If she was planned to be released, do you know why the plans were abandoned?
@Jambo That’s interesting. I never thought of that, but it does allude to the idea of them considering the release programme. Temara (the first female released) was only 15 months older in age; so the most obvious reasons I can think of are: 1) Temara was 2nd generation and less valuable to the breeding programme then Pulang (1st generation) or 2) Temara was considered better adapted to life in the wild. Temara was quite a confident orangutan I believe.
I hope they can continue their release programme in the future. The zoo bred orangs are great amabassadors for conservation.
