The 9th to 15th November 2025 is Orangutan Caring Week.  It was called Orangutan Awareness Week, but being aware just isn’t enough – the vital thing is to

a) become aware the week is taking place and

b) care enough to DO something about it and help orangutans!

It's the 20th Anniversary of Orangutan Caring Week, and as such, it's a good time to reflect on the last 20 years that the event has been taking place and the work that's been done to help orangutans and their homes.

Take a good DOSE of hope, and imagine what it would be like for orangutans to thrive in healthy forests, and then a massive BUCKETFUL of positive action! Imagine the orangutans swinging from tree to tree, totally confident that their home will be there, with places to rest and feed, surrounded by other wildlife who are also able to survive and thrive.

There are a LOT of organisations helping orangutans and Orangutan Caring list many of them here.

Habitat loss has led to conflict with people.   It’s one of the biggest threats facing endangered species as animals have to search for food in new areas as their habitat is destroyed. Forests are being converted to palm oil plantations.   So the animals lose their homes and with it, their food supply. This forces them  to venture to places where they won't be welcome such as areas being farmed. Farmers don’t appreciate the orangutans or any other animal destroying their crops, so they may well shoot them. 

Other threats are:

• The illegal pet trade

• Hunting for meat

• The expansion of agriculture, illegal mining, and the pulp and paper industries are hitting orangutans and their numbers

• Climate change.

• Forests fires – these are more frequent and intense

Organisations are working in a number of ways, say Orangutan Caring, such as:

1. Rehabilitating and releasing back into the wild orphaned orangutans (remember Orangutan Jungle School?)

2. Protecting the habitat and considering forests purposes:   conservation such as national parks and nature reserves, protecting forests to safeguard essential ecosystems and production forest needed for timber, plantations etc..  Of course, these boundaries mean nothing to orangutans.  And the habitat needs protecting, with forest patrols and rangers, law enforcement and prosecutions;  and monitoring and reporting by communities.   Remote sensing and camera traps are also used.

3. Where there are non-protected forests, it’s important to work with local communities and farmers and landowners, and support both reforestation and corridor restoration so that it is easy for orangutans and other animals to get from one place to another.   It’s important to work with governments, since they can help create new national parks and conservation, and conservationists can present data such as biodiversity figures and evidence to policy makers.

4. Shopping smartly to influence manufacturers.  For example, choosing products with sustainable palm oil, or no palm oil.  I always check the label, and there’s a Sustainable Palm Oil Shopping App to help you from WAZA which is the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Find out about the Roundtable on  Sustainable Palm Oil. Its aim is a sustainable palm oil industry.

5. Education – to overcome conservation challenges long term to explain the threats facing the orangutans and how people can help, such as explaining the laws and impact of the illegal pet trade.  This is not just about educating young people;  it’s about educating communities as well.

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