A vulnerable baby orangutan has been moved from Dublin Zoo to a monkey sanctuary in the UK due to his mother being unable to feed him.
The baby’s father Sibu died in February and had been at the zoo for four decades.
In August, a group of 30 breastfeeding mothers volunteered to help encourage Mujer to bond with her newborn.
Young orangutans are fully dependent on their mother for food and transportation for the first three years of their life.
Dublin Zoo cared for Sibu around the clock during the first couple months of his life.
However, it had to make the difficult decision to transfer Sibu to Monkey World – Ape Rescue Centre in Dorset.
Monkey World is home to the European specialist orangutan crèche for orphaned and rejected infants, which aims to break cycle of abandonment and help female orangutans rear their own young in future.
Monkey World said for male infants like Sibu, growing up in the orangutan nursery crèche gives them the skills to live with women and children when they become fully mature males.
The nursery is currently home to four other young orangutans born in zoos in Hungary, Germany and the UK, who were also unable to be reared by their own mothers.
They are cared for by the crèche foster mother Oshine, a Bornean orangutan who was rescued from the illegal pet trade in South Africa in 2010.
Director of Monkey World Dr Alison Cronin travelled to Dublin to meet Sibu and bring him back to Monkey World.
She was accompanied back to the Dorset sanctuary by a member of Sibu’s care team from Dublin, to keep his transition as stress free as possible.
Dublin Zoo said on social media: “We were sad to say goodbye to this bundle of joy who had stolen our hearts, but we know that this move is exactly what he needs for his development
“We want to give a shout out to the heroes in the Dublin Zoo team who have given so much time over the past few months to offer SJ such wonderful care.
“We have had team members work a full shift to fulfil their regular duties at Dublin Zoo and then take on orangutan baby-sitting duties overnight, bottle-feeding and changing nappies.
“It’s been a supreme effort from the whole team and gives us comfort to know we said goodbye to a healthy infant who has made excellent progress. We can’t wait to see him thrive in his new environment.”
Dr Cronin said: “It is really too bad that Sibu’s mother did not feed him, it was what everyone had hoped for.
“In the end the team at Dublin Zoo saved the baby’s life and cared for him around the clock while necessary health checks and paperwork were completed for the transfer of the infant to Monkey World.
“It is so important that orphan orangutans grow up with others of their own kind.
“Monkey World specialises in the care of these very vulnerable infants and has specialist facilities to aid in their development and integration into the nursery crèche.
“At present Sibu is just over 3kg and is taking 90mls of formula at a time, throughout the day and night.
“He is not ready to join the others just yet but it won’t be long before he is able to sit up and move around on his own.
“Then he can start spending days in the nursery and get to know some of the others that live there.
“Sibu’s future in the nursery crèche is a long one as he will stay with us, growing up with other orangutans for the next ten years before having an adult group of his own someday.”
