Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/944484
ZOO NEWS M EM B ER MAGA ZIN E 04 Melbourne Zoo Senior Vet Dr. Helen McCracken is just winding up her second visit to the Sumatran Orang-utan Conservation Program in Medan. She explains that while there are some adults in the centre, most of the residents are babies: "some are in a drastic state, dehydrated and not long separated from their mothers." She explains that this often happens when their rainforest homes are being logged to make way for palm oil plantations. The babies need intensive round-the-clock care until they're at least one year old. Then the next step is to integrate them with others of the same age with a view to releasing them in small groups when they are ready to go back to the wild after they are at least five years old. Helen was first invited to visit in 2014 and spent a month providing advanced training to the Sumatran Orang-utan Conservation Program vet team, plus other vets in the region who joined the group while she was there. She also took a selection of equipment to improve their capacity for anaesthesia, surgery and THE GLOBAL EFFORT TO SAVE A SPECIES THE GLOBAL EFFORT TO SAVE A SPECIES Orang-utans are a species under threat in the wild, facing extreme hardships with the continuing expansion of the palm oil industry in South-east Asia robbing them of their homes. It takes a global effort to save such a precious species, and Melbourne Zoo's Staff are playing a key role in their survival. CARING FOR ORANG- UTANS IN MEDAN