Short stories

Orangutan

"Go on Anto. Go play." Amah urged. The little orangutan finally let go of her and started climbing. He had been refusing to play for over half an hour. Fitri, his friend, was waiting for him. They started climbing together, swinging from branch to branch. Cora still had an orangutan holding onto her, a new arrival to forest school named Berry, who refused to climb or play at all. She just clung to Cora and played with her blonde plaits. Once she had even chewed on her braids, to Amah's delight and Cora's frustration. Berry had also chewed on Amah's headscarf, but it was her least favorite one, an ugly yellow-brown color and she had been rather glad to throw it away.Cora exclaimed, "Look how well Anto is adjusting! I was worried about him at first. I thought we might have to keep him here." Anto had been like Berry at first, which was bad because any of the baby orangutans who did not learn to climb and find food had to stay at the Sabangau sanctuary. It was better for animals to be in the wild. Cora and Amah sat down, watching the orangutans play. A branch snapped somewhere nearby.Amah started. Turning to Cora, she asked, "Did you hear that? I wonder if the orangutans are okay." Many people would love to get their hands on an orangutan, for they were very valuable creatures in the illegal animal market."No worries, I'm sure they're fine. They're probably just messing around." Cora assured her. Berry continued to refuse to let go of Cora, so she was glad when it was lunchtime, for that was the one thing Berry would let go for. They called for the orangutans, and all of them came, except for Anto."Anto! Come back! I have some delicious fruit for you!" Amah called. Cora began to hand out the fruit to the orangutans."Huh. I wonder why Anto isn't back yet. He loves food." Amah frowned. Anto never strayed far from the keepers, or his fellow orangutans. Plus, he was the youngest of the group, just over a year old. He was not strong enough to go very far yet. Cora rolled her eyes."He's probably just stuck up high in a branch or maybe he went far today. Don't worry, he'll come back." She continued to feed the orangutans but noticed that Fitri was whimpering.Cora frowned. "Look how stressed Fitri is today. I wonder if she and Anto were fighting." Fitri and Anto never fought. Something was wrong. Fitri wouldn't act like this unless something was wrong with Anto.Biting her lip, Amah said. "I'm going to go look for him. He might be hurt." She took some fruit with her, hoping to draw him in with the smell of food."Anto! Where are you! I have fruit!" She kept calling for an hour. Anto was nowhere to be found. A bright orange object caught her eye. It was a poaching dart, stuck in a tree. She took out a piece of cloth and wrapped the dart in it, careful not to touch it. She headed back to Cora."I couldn't find Anto, but I did find this." She opened the cloth, showing the dart. Cora's eyes widened."What if- it couldn't be. A poacher wouldn't dare steal one of Sabangau's orangutans.""We have to tell the management right now.""Okay. Let's go." When they reached the sanctuary and had put the orangutans back in the nursery room, Amah headed to the manager of Sabangau Sanctuary, Danta."Cora and I took the nursery group out for forest school today. We called them back for lunch, and Anto didn't come. I went out to look for him, I thought maybe he was hurt or stuck or couldn't hear me. I still couldn't find him. And then I found this." She placed the poacher's dart on the desk.Danta looked at it disdainfully. "A poacher's dart. That's hardly solid evidence that he was taken.""But Anto wouldn't wander off." Amah was shocked at how little Danta cared."He's an animal, of course he might wander off. Trust me, I know orangutans." She looked at Amah, as if daring her to challenge Danta's authority."But Anto isn't like that. He hates being alone." Amah knew that sounded stupid, but she didn't care. She knew that Anto would never run away. He was rather scared of the dense Indonesian rainforest; it took a lot of convincing to get him to climb and play."Don't worry, I will start a search party for him. It's not poachers." Danta stated. She started typing on her computer, evidently alerting the rest of the Sanctuary and the town."Okay." Amah bit her lip, still not convinced. She left the office with a feeling that something here was not right."Hi! I am Amah, from the Sabangau orangutan reservation. Have you seen a baby orangutan recently? One of our babies has gone missing." She and the other keepers were spending their spare time going door to door giving out missing posters. The woman at the door shook her head. Amah sighed. Not a single person had seen Anto. She left and began the walk back to Sabangau."Wait!" someone yelled. It was Agung, a man in the village who had found Fitri. Amah suspected he had something to do with the fact Fitri was orphaned, for orangutan mothers didn't just abandon their babies. He had gotten away with it though. Amah frowned but waited for him. "I saw a little orangutan by the road. It was munching on some fruit." Amah smiled. Finally, a clue as to where he had gone!"Thank you! I've been so worried. I will tell Danta immediately." Agung looked very smug. As she headed back to Sabangau, Amah realized something. Agung would never just leave a baby orangutan, not when he could sell it or give it to the sanctuary and receive praise in return, maybe even a gift. Agung was lying. She told Danta anyway. Danta had smirked at her, pleased that she had been wrong about the poachers. Amah decided to search Agung's house, for she still suspected he had done something to Anto. While the rest of the keepers searched near the road, she headed over to his house. Agung seemed very worried when he answered the door."What are you doing here? Dan-, I mean you are supposed to be searching the forest, right? Because of my helpful clue?""Yes, but I am just so thankful that you saw Anto that I wanted to thank you in person. I also have some questions about Anto's appearance, whether he looked healthy or not, and that sort of thing. It can really help in a search. May I come in?" He nodded. She walked into his house and took a look around. It seemed normal enough. He went into the kitchen to get her some food. A faint crying sound came from the hallway. She tiptoed into the hallway, following the sound. It was Anto's cry. There was a room at the end of the hallway, so she tried to go into it. It was locked. Taking a hairpin, she picked the lock and opened the door. Inside were Anto and two other baby orangutans, one of which had an awful head wound. She called Danta."Danta?" she whispered."Who is this?" Danta asked."Its Amah. I found Anto. Agung is keeping him at his house, along with two other babies he must have poached from the forest. Can you call the police for me? I don't want to make Agung suspicious." There was a long pause at the end of the line, and Amah heard some faint muffled sounds, like Danta was talking to someone else but didn't want Amah to hear."Yes, I will call the police immediately. Good work Amah." Amah hung up and turned, ready to leave the room. Agung was blocking the doorway. Amah dropped her phone in surprise."You are very smart. I can't believe you figured it out. But you didn't realize one thing. I have a friend on the inside." Amah gasped."Danta?" Agung nodded."She has been very helpful. Especially just now when she told me where you were." Amah's eyes widened in horror as she realized that she had been betrayed. Agung grabbed her phone and slammed the door shut, locking it. She was trapped. The door had no knobs or locks on this side. There was just an open window, high up on the wall. Too high for her to reach. Looking at Anto, she had an idea. "Come here Anto." He scampered over to her. Picking him up, she boosted him up to the window. He grabbed onto the ledge and crawled out the window. Amah lifted the other baby orangutan and let it out of the window as well. The last baby orangutan was far too small to be able to climb and its head wound was bleeding badly. Amah unwound her headscarf and wrapped it around the little orangutan's head. It was the only thing long enough to make a good bandage. She picked up the little orangutan and it clung to her, whimpering. The door didn't look very tough, it was just meant as a barrier for baby animals. Good thing she was a lot stronger than a baby animal. She examined the door. It opened to the outside and was made of wood. She knew where the lock was on the other side, which was good, for the lock was the weakest place in the door. She held onto the little baby orangutan and whispered,"Don't worry. We'll get out of here." Bracing herself, she kicked the door. A splintering sound came, but the door didn't fall. She kicked it again, with more power. The door came crashing down with a heavy thud. She heard Agung walking down the hallway. She ran back into the room, just out of his line of sight."What the-" was all he had time to say before she slammed the door on top of his head. He collapsed to the ground, knocked out cold. She grabbed her phone and his phone from his pocket. Amah ran out of the house and around the back, where Anto and the other baby orangutan were sitting, having been too scared to move. She scooped them up and dialed the number for the police on her phone. Explaining the situation, they arrived almost immediately. She got a ride back to Sabangau, just in time to see Danta being loaded into a police car. The orangutan with the head injury ended up surviving, and she was named Adiranta. The other baby was named Intan. Both names mean jewel or diamond. Anto went back to jungle school and eventually was released back into the wild. Amah continued to work at Sabangau, but also teamed up with poacher hunters, successfully catching 10 poachers and saving over 20 orangutans as well as monkeys, crocodiles and several other animals from the illegal animal market.

This story is partially based on true events. A baby orangutan named Luna did go missing one day at Ketapang Orangutan Center in 2011. She was also the youngest orangutan in the forest school. Unlike in the story, she was never found and no one knows what happened to her. She might have wandered off or been taken by poachers. Orangutan DNA is about a 97% match to human DNA, they are one of our closest relatives. Unfortunately, they are an endangered species, due to deforestation in Indonesia, and baby orangutans are valuable in the illegal animal market. A mother orangutan will never abandon her child which means for every orphaned baby orangutan found, a mother orangutan has most likely died. Over 5,000 orangutans are killed every year. At this rate, orangutans will most likely be gone in 10 years. If you would like to help this endangered species and rescue them from extinction, please visit . You can donate money to their cause, as well as learn more about this incredible species. If you would like to hear more about Luna's mysterious disappearance here is the direct link to the page: If you are depressed after hearing all these facts, watch this video to cheer you up. (it's a baby orangutan) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrh_zkWGIHM