Every Orangutan

Starting Save Orangutans Now is the fulfillment of a promise to myself and Orangutans after coming across a life-changing photo. I’ve always loved animals and nature and had a particular interest in primates with Orangutans eventually becoming my passion. By steadily donating and symbolically adopting through various Orangutan conservation organizations, I felt I was doing my part in helping these magnificent creatures.

One day, I happened upon a picture showing a hauntingly gaunt mother Orangutan with her limbs roped desparately attempting to protect her baby. The baby looked terrified and was hanging on for dear life. I had seen many tragic Orangutan pictures before but this one and the accompany story detailing the incomprehensible brutality this mother Orangutan suffered for leaving the forest in search of food and for trying to protect her baby touched me to the core. In an instant I realized how urgently vulnerable Orangutans are, how scenes like the one in the picture were everyday occurrences, and how much I needed to do something other than just donate money.

Flash forward to me talking to several experts who have been Orangutan advocates for decades followed by me spending time in Borneo observing Orangutans in the wild as well as in care centers established for those who are rescued and displaced. It was apparent that these advocates on the ground and the organizations that fund them have their hands full combating the worsening environmental, political and economic realities of protecting Orangutans.

Continuing my information-gathering process, I conducted a non-scientific experiment out of my two San Diego offices over a two-month period where I have about 35-40 visitors a week. I put out stuffed Orangutans, literature, and held a free raffle for the stuffed Orangutans to see what the reaction would be. Most people noticed the display and referred to them as monkies, gorillas or chimps; most of the children said they lived in zoos while the teens and adults talked about the great work Jane Goodall was doing to protect them in Africa; and only 4-5 adults (out of a sample size of roughly 300) had any understanding about palm oil and/or the extinction threat. When I briefly explained the plight of Orangutans, many expressed concern but no one took literature while nearly everyone entered the raffle.

Clearly, based on this experiment, Orangutans and the issues they face appeared to be below the radar of many people and even with some awareness few were willing to do something as simple as learning more. All of this was not promising and cemented my desire to find new and innovative ways to get a critical mass of individuals engaged.

The work of Save Orangutans Now is meant to complement and collaborate with those already doing Orangutan conservation work. We want to be an agent of change by radically increasing the visibility of the problem and making it very easy for everyone to find one or more actions they can take to contribute to the solution.

There are many examples across history of big problems being solved through the individual efforts of enough people. Save Orangutans Now intends to be another example of the great potential of individuals and groups to accomplish amazing things.

I invite you to join us and be part of the solution.

Marcia Garceau, PhD
President & Founder
Save Orangutans Now