JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A conservation group in Indonesia says it wants to create a 5-hectare “forest island” for the world’s only known albino orangutan after rescuing it from villagers earlier this year.
Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation says Wednesday that the 5-year-old orangutan, which it named Alba, can’t be safely returned to the wild because of health issues related to her albinism.
Spokesman Nico Hermanu said the foundation is starting a public appeal to raise $80,000 needed to buy land in central Kalimantan for the special reserve.
The foundation says the land, which would be surrounded by a moat, would allow Alba to “live freely in natural habitat, but protected from threats posed by humans.”
Orangutans, only found in the wild on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, are critically endangered.
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