Charity releases footage of rescued baby orangutans' first encounter

A charity that rescues orangutans in Borneo has released a video showing the moment when two of their youngest babies met for the first time.



Gito and Asoka are both in the care of a team from International Animal Rescue (IAR) whose head office is in Uckfield, East Sussex. The two youngsters were taken from their mothers in the wild and kept in captivity as people’s pets. They're now being cared for in the charity's rescue centre in Ketapang, West Borneo.





For one of the orangutans, Gito, it is the first time he has been close to another orangutan since losing his mother. Only a few months ago IAR’s rescue team found Gito lying lifeless and close to death in a urine-soaked cardboard box. The medical team worked round the clock to save him and restore him to health. 


YouTube link. Additional Facebook video.

Alan Knight, CEO of International Animal Rescue, said: "These two babies have a long road ahead of them. They will spend several years in our rehabilitation centre building up their strength and learning the skills they will need to survive in the wild before they can even be considered for reintroduction into the forest. Their progress so far is really encouraging and we are all thrilled to see how well they are doing."