Freed, thanks to Mail readers - Mely the chained orangutan
By Bill Mouland
Last updated at 4:38 PM on 30th October 2010
After 15 years in shackles, perhaps it was inevitable that when the moment came for rescuers to free Mely the orangutan, no one could find the key to unlock her padlock and chain.
Yet she stood upright on her thin, wasted legs as the team from the British charity arrived by boat at the spot where she had been shackled in Kalimantan,
Mely had been held there in unspeakably cruel conditions by a fisherman who shot her mother as a ‘trophy’. He treated Mely as a ‘cute’ pet — much to the amusement of friends, who threw her scraps of unsuitable food.
The key to freedom: Despite a couple of hitches, one of the rescuers unlocks the padlock that kept Mely shackled for 15 years
Check up: A charity work examines Mely. The mark around her neck is from where the chain dug in and left a painful wound
But as the years passed and she grew into an adult, Mely became less of an attraction and morosely sat on the wooden balcony, picking hopelessly at the padlock which kept her captive.
Happiness at last: Mely is on the road to recovery at the rescue centre in Ketapang
Her plight was highlighted by the Daily Mail and a documentary by the BBC’s Panorama.
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In 1900, there were more than 315,000 orangutans in the wild, but today there are fewer than 50,000. Their numbers have plummeted because their rainforest home is being destroyed so trees can be planted as part of the lucrative palm oil industry.
Within hours of the Mail’s story about Mely, readers raised more than £5,000 to help International Animal Rescue (IAR) mount a rescue effort and build a new sanctuary for its refugee animals which are currently housed in a rescue centre in Ketapang. The plan is for them all to be rehabilitated and hopefully released into the wild.
Mely looked bewildered and frightened as a group of animal-lovers approached to rescue her. But she let them examine the padlock and chain, gazing at them with her trusting brown eyes. Her owner had been prepared to sell her to the charity for £300 — but IAR feared that if they accepted, it might lead to locals capturing more apes in order to extract bounties from rescue teams.
Instead, the charity had to wait for Indonesian government paperwork to be completed and a licence issued for Mely to be rescued because it is illegal to own an orangutan as a pet.
As no one could find the key to the padlock, rescuers had to wrench the chain from the floor before leading Mely to the crate that would carry her on the next part of her journey to the sanctuary at Ketapang.
Karmele Llano Sanchez, 32, veterinary director of IAR in Indonesia, said that after 15 years of wearing a choking chain, a dreadful mark had been left on Mely’s skin.
Kind and caring: Mely was sedated by a doctor before she carried out further checks on her
The route to freedom: Mely is transported away from her captor and to her new life at the rescue centre
She added: ‘Mely was underweight and malnourished. But despite a lifetime of unsuitable food, her teeth are in fairly good condition. She is showing a healthy interest in food and eagerly trying all kinds of fruit for the first time.’
The other rescued orangutans were excited by Mely’s arrival, calling from the hammocks in their enclosures.
Shackled: How the Mail reported the story earlier this month
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"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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