Orangutan Caring Week is November 12-18, 2006
October 26, 2006 - Each year in November, an increasing number of concerned people take a week to celebrate one of humankind’s closest living primate relatives: the orangutan. These intelligent and acrobatic, ginger-haired great apes are favorites of zoo visitors, but their future in their native forests of Borneo and Sumatra has become a worry to researchers and conservationists who have seen their numbers decline to alarmingly low levels in recent years. Pekan Peduli Orangutan or Orangutan Caring Week is a week long celebration of orangutans and one important way to get people, particularly in Indonesia, to appreciate the many fascinating characteristics of the species, understand their current plight, and develop a caring attitude such that the orangutan will be seen as a national treasure worth saving.
Maya Rumantir-Hutasoit Appointed Honorary Advisor for OUREI
June 16, 2006- Los Angeles, CA. During a formal presentation and press conference held at the Consulate General Republik of Indonesia in Los Angeles, Mrs. Maya Rumantir-Hutasoit, Ph.D. (Hon) celebrity pop singer and peace activist from Indonesia was appointed Honorary Advisor to the Orangutan Republik Education Initiative (OUREI). OUREI Founders Dr. Gary & Inggriani Shapiro announced the appointment in a ceremony following an illustrated presentation by Dr. Shapiro about orangutans, their threats and the work of OUREI. Mrs. Rumantir-Hutasoit plans to work with OUREI in Indonesia to further the mission of saving the orangutan through song and programs that touch and inspire Indonesian people to care about and to stop the exploitation and killing that contribute to the species rapid decline.
LP Jenkins Memorial Fellowship 2006 Awarded to Gail Angela Campbell-Smith
June 1, 2006—Santa Monica, CA. Following a review of the submitted proposals, the Orang Utan Republik Education Initiative (OUREI) awarded the 2006 LP Jenkins Memorial Fellowship to Gail Angela Campbell-Smith for her entry entitled, “Bittersweet knowledge: Can people and orangutans live in harmony?
Conference, Workshop and Summit to Help Save Endangered Sumatran Orangutan
May 1, 2006– Santa Monica, CA. Sumatran orangutans are considered critically endangered in the dwindling forests located in the northern portion of this remote Indonesian island. Experts estimate that only 7,000 of the arboreal apes remain with some 800 lost each year due to habitat destruction and the conflict that arises between orangutan and human. The crisis is considered so severe that conservationists predict the species might become effectively extinct in the wild in just 5 to 10 years unless immediate action is taken on the species’ behalf.
Transformation of Orangutan Awareness Week to Orangutan Caring Week Proclaimed
March 22, 2006- Hollywood, CA. During the occasion of the Orang Utan Republik Education Initiative’s (OUREI) first fundraiser, its Chairman, Dr. Gary Shapiro, initiator of International Orangutan Awareness Week (IOAW), publicly declared the transformation of IOAW to Orangutan Caring Week as a global event. After raising awareness through IOAW for a decade, Shapiro came to the realization that the endangered orangutan’s plight continues unabated with numbers plummeting throughout its range. Shapiro stated, “Ten years is long enough to merely be aware of the issues. We now must evolve beyond passive awareness and into an active caring mode. We have to care enough about the species to save it while there still is time”
Page 31 of 33
