Meeting the inspiring Lone Droscher Nielson

19 Nov 2009 4 Comments

by littlemisstwinkletoes in Saving the orangutan Tags: Borneo, orangutans, palm oil

It is always a privilege to meet someone who inspires you and I had that rare opportunity last night at Woburn Safari Park. They held “An Evening with Lone Droscher Nielson”, and I was first on the list for a ticket – in fact, I was pre-list as I have contacts at the Park. It was scheduled to be an hour’s talk, but it was nearer two and everyone sat spellbound. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment, Lone spent time talking to everyone who wanted to talk and signed books. As usual, I became a bit tongue-tied when faced with someone I admire so much, but I hope I made a little bit of sense!

For anyone who doesn’t know, Lone is the founder and public face of the Nyaru Menteng Rescue & Rehabilitation Centre. She began her work 10years ago with the dream of helping the hundred or so orangutans who were in need of immediate help. The centre has gone from strength to strength but the demand for space in the nursery, forest schools and islands has grown beyond imagining. Currently there are 600 orangutans in their care and one day the majority will be released back into the wild into specially found release sites. Despite all the great work Lone has done and all the things she has achieved, she doesn’t feel successful – she told us that her dream hadn’t come true. She has not been able to release all the orangutans and solve all the problems they face in Indonesia. Her great wish is that there was no longer any need for centres such as hers and that all the orangutans were safe and in the wild. Lone is a humble lady, not only does she feel that she hasn’t achieved what she set out to do yet, but she was clear to reiterate that what she does in Borneo could not be done without her committed staff, many of which are local people passionate in the cause.

Lone has so many stories to tell about her experiences, but there was one story that will remain with me forever. Alma was an orangutan that came to the centre after living with a gold-miner. Unfortunately Alma had discovered one of the small bottles of mercury used in the process and had drunk it. At Nyaru Menteng they did everything they could for her, even sending her blood to the States and getting special medication that would bind the mercury together. Nothing, however, stopped it from getting to her brain. Alma was a very sick little orangutan and had to spend a lot of time on IVs in the infirmary. When she was fit enough she spent time in Lone’s house. She was one of the gentlest and calmest orangutans Lone has ever come across,she would play for hours in the kitchen cupboards taking out each pot and putting it on the floor. Whenever she came across a can of food she would take it through to the living room and hand it to Lone who would pretend to open it but not be able to. One day Alma brought in a can opener instead and Lone had no option but to show her what it did by opening a can of beans. Two weeks later after a further spell in hospital, Alma came back to Lone’s house and carried a can through to the living room. When Lone showed her she couldn’t open it, Alma went back into the kitchen and found the can opener! A while after this Lone went to visit her in the hospital and found her to be much more anxious and agitated than normal, trying to rip out her IV. Eventually Lone decided to take her out into the forest which she enjoyed doing when she was well enough. They spent a long time playing in the water which always made Alma laugh. Afterwards they went for a walk further into the forest where they sat down for a chat. Just as Lone decided it was time to go back Alma climbed up into her lap and slowly went to sleep. She never woke up. At some level, this beautiful orangutan must have known what was going to happen and had decided how she wanted to spend her time. She hadn’t made a fuss to get out of the hospital until the person she saw as her best friend arrived and then she decided that’s who she wanted to spend time with. I can say there were quite a few people in the room wiping their eyes at the end of this story – including me!

Lone went on to explain about the palm oil problem. Until about 2003, Lone and her team were making some progress with the logging companies and things were starting to look up for the orangutan. Then palm oil exploded onto the scene and the problem intensified. Logging did not mean great amounts of forests being completely felled – some trees remained standing and the forests had chance to regenerate. Orangutans could live in these forests and the new trees fruited better than older ones. A balance could be found. Palm oil plantations, however, decimate the landscape. Rainforest the size of 300 football pitches are lost every hour and are replaced by the monoculture of oil palms. This is not just devastating news for the orangutan, but all wildlife. Between 80-100% of wildlife is lost when palm oil moves in and never returns to the plantations. This is a shocking figure, particularly when palm oil is heralded as a “green oil”, that will one day soon start filling our cars as biofuel.

Sadly, with palm oil being in at least 1 in 10 supermarket products, there is no way even an active boycotter could avoid palm oil completely. There are however, solutions. Some palm oil that is being produced is done so sustainably. Many companies claim that there just isn’t a large enough supply and that it would cost too much for the consumer. Currently there is 2 million tonnes of sustainable palm oil being stored in Hull and Rotterdam – only 19% has been brought. In addition to this a recent BBC programme Britain’s Really Disgusting Food (available to watch on iplayer) investigated how much it would cost the consumer if manufacturers began using sustainable palm oil. The resulting increase would be 0.5p on a Mars Bar. I’m sure that the manufactures could cope with swallowing that cost themselves whilst using it as a great PR move, but even if they weren’t prepared to, 0.5p on a bar of chocolate is not going to stop people from buying it.

Despite all the problems Lone, her team and the orangutans are facing, there is still hope for the species and certainly for the rescued and rehabilitated orangutans of Nyaru Menteng. In March they plan to release 100 orangutans which involves plane and helicopter flights, several staff to carry the orangutans, radio monitoring equipment and so on. There is so much work to be done in order to release even one orangutan, including finding the appropriate sites and working with logging and mining companies as well as the government. Each release will cost approximately £3000 so they urgently need our help. If you would like to learn more about the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation or donate to their work, please visit www.savetheorangutan.co.uk