Orangutan on drugs: Taymur's long road to freedom

Animals - Orangutan on drugs: Taymur's long road to freedom

A look sometimes says more than a thousand monkey sounds. When little Taymur saw his native Borneo again for the first time at the end of 2017, he looked out of the car window with wide eyes and incredulous amazement.

At the time, the orangutan boy was just two years old. But what he has already been through in his short life - including drug addiction - moves animal lovers all over the world and makes international headlines. Would the tiny, weakened baby primate ever find the will to live again? Many doubted. Now, six years later, Taymur is well on the way to becoming what he should always have been: wild and free.

Thanks to the BOS (Borneo Orangutan Survival) foundation, the now eight-year-old has been at "Forest University" for a few days - the last step before the great freedom. The moment Taymur takes his first steps towards independence is also experienced first-hand by the head of BOS Germany, Daniel Merdes. He is also the one who opens the cage on the pre-release island, revealing a world to Taymur that he has not known for far too long. It was a "magical moment", Merdes told the German Press Agency. A kind of Christmas miracle. But right from the start:

Exotic animals coveted in Gulf states

Taymur was orphaned as an infant. His mother was probably killed on a palm oil plantation. Orangutans wandering around hungry on plantations are often ruthlessly killed - especially if they have offspring. The young are snatched from their dying mothers and lucratively sold on the illegal wildlife market. And so the traumatized Taymur suddenly found himself as a baby in Kuwait, more than 7000 kilometers away.

In the Gulf States, it is considered chic to own an exotic wild animal. According to the BOS, the trade in protected animals and plants ranks fourth in global organized crime - with an estimated annual turnover of between 8 and 20 billion euros.

But Taymur has a stroke of luck: in 2016, he is discovered by chance in a car accident involving his rich Kuwaiti owner. The drug-addicted man confesses to the police that he had also given his passenger - one-year-old Taymur - drugs "for fun". It is not entirely clear which drugs were involved. "When Taymur was seized, he was already completely exhausted and also showed behavioral problems," said Merdes at the time. The fact that he survived was nothing short of a miracle.

Difficult diplomatic negotiations

The little orangutan was confiscated and taken to Kuwait Zoo. Once again he finds himself in a new, unfamiliar environment, without any maternal care. He probably also suffers cold turkey there.

Then Taymur gets lucky again: the BOS Foundation comes on the scene and - together with the Indonesian government - wants to bring him back to his homeland and his natural habitat. But all sides want to save face in the scramble for the little primate - and so almost a year of complicated diplomatic negotiations ensue.

In 2017, Taymur finally flies to Jakarta accompanied by a veterinarian and is brought to the BOS conservation center Nyaru Menteng in Central Kalimantan after quarantine. Now it's time for him: Taymur has to learn everything anew. This is because orangutan children actually live with their mothers for the first six to eight years, who equip them with all the knowledge they need for life in the jungle - how to find food, build sleeping nests, protect themselves from enemies.

Taymur's remarkable transformation

Orangutan means "man of the forest". The reddish-brown great apes once lived in large areas of Southeast Asia. Today they only live on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. According to estimates, they could be extinct in the wild in just a few decades - poaching and habitat loss are the biggest threats.

So Taymur attends forest school. At first he is extremely affectionate, doesn't want to let go of his keepers at all and feeds almost exclusively on cucumbers and tea - not the kind of food he would find in the jungle. Even the animal rights activists are skeptical as to whether he can ever be released into the wild. But then he showed "a remarkable transformation", recalls local program manager Denny Kurniawan.

Thanks in part to his interaction with other orangutans of the same age, he adapts to the new conditions and learns quickly. A video from 2019 shows Taymur already confidently climbing trees, skillfully peeling fruit and exuberantly frolicking with his buddies Moza and Junior, also victims of international animal smuggling. "All this made him an excellent candidate for the pre-release island," said Kurniawan. This final stage before freedom is appropriately called "forest university".

Hand washing as atypical behavior

And that is where he will be for the next one to three years, in the forest of Salat Island. Now Taymur has to prove that he really is ready for the jungle. He also needs to become a stranger to humans again - because orangutans are only truly wild when they act suspicious and hostile. However, the animals here receive a daily delivery of fruit and vegetables, as the island would not provide them with enough food. "I will miss him," says his former caretaker Sri. "But I'm so happy that he's now one step closer to freedom."

On the other hand, Taymur has never given up one atypical behavior that probably dates back to his time in Kuwait: He constantly washes his hands in the river. "Taymur's life couldn't be crazier. To be honest, I had great doubts about his chances of being released into the wild," says Merdes. "But if a Taymur with the worst possible start can make it, then there is still hope."

Video of Taymur's return to Borneo 2017 Video from 2019 Website BOS Germany Report Kuwait Times