November 12, 2011 - Santa Monica, CA.  In 2005, OURF began working with Sumatran Orangutan Society's Orangutan Information Center (OIC) to provide a 4-year competitive scholarship for a college student in Medan, Sumatra. Called the Orangutan Caring Scholarship (OCS), the collaborative program was intended to provide needed assistance for students wanting to attain a degree with an emphasis on orangutan conservation and education. Since awarding the first scholarship to forestry student Lia Andriati, the program has grown to include students in the schools of biology and veterinary medicine.  The OCS has granted 20 students multiyear scholarships over the last two years; a total of 33 have been awarded since the program's inception.

Earlier this year the program expanded to provide 5-year scholarship-internships awards for Acehnese veterinary students through a partnership with the Animal Health Foundation.  These enhanced awards will be given in 2012.

Today, coinciding with the opening of Orangutan Caring Week, several organizations announced that the OCS will again be expanded—this time to the neighboring island of Borneo to include university students from West Kalimantan. The program will be patterned after the Sumatran OCS and will be coordinated by OURF.  The scholarships will be administered on the ground by the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program (GPOCP) and initially funded by New York-based Orangutan Outreach (OO). Additional field support will be provided by International Animal Rescue (IAR).

OURF President Dr. Gary Shapiro said that the expanded program begins the foundation's direct involvement in Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of Borneo where Shapiro conducted unique linguistic studies with ex-captive orangutans in the late 1970's. While more orangutans still live in the forests of Borneo, Shapiro started OURF to focus on the critically endangered Sumatran species whose future was extremely uncertain due to extensive habitat loss. Yet Bornean orangutans are also endangered, with individual orangutans being increasingly isolated from one another.  “Now is the time to invest in Borneo’s future” said Shapiro.

Orangutan Outreach Executive Director Richard Zimmerman expressed his appreciation that funds raised could be directed to this successful program. “We are thrilled to be able to continue our collaboration with OURF and support this valuable program. We’ve been able to help in Sumatra for the past two years and know there is an equal demand in Borneo. The initial scholarship recipients will be able to play a crucial role in the new orangutan rescue center that we are now helping International Animal Rescue (IAR) develop in the West Kalimantan city of Ketapang.”

"Over the past decade GPOCP has been promoting environmental education, with many alumni from our programs going on to pursue conservation careers in NGOs, government and the private sector. We are excited to be expanding this work with the Orangutan Caring Scholarship Program, and are pleased to collaborate with OURF and Orangutan Outreach on such a worthy project," said Dr. Cheryl Knott of GPOCP.

The new Borneo Orangutan Caring Scholarship Program is slated to begin during the first quarter of 2012.  For more information, contact OURF, OO, and GPOCP.

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CONTACT INFORMATION: OURF: http://orangutanrepublik.org; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ;

OO: http://redapes.org ; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; GPOCP: http://savegporangutans.org ; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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