People spend 8 years teaching this rescued baby orangutan how to be wild — then set him free ❤️
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🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00 Hello, Woody.
00:02 Yeah, Woody.
00:04 Woody was being kept as a pet.
00:06 A person that only volunteered to give him up.
00:09 He was getting very sick.
00:11 He was pretty emo.
00:13 I'm really sorry.
00:15 I'm sorry.
00:17 He was in a pretty sorry state when we got him.
00:21 I don't know how much longer he would have lasted.
00:23 Swollen, unable to move.
00:27 Really suffering from severe malnutrition.
00:30 Our specialist veterinary team, they got him straight onto a nutritional regime
00:35 so that he could start his journey to recovery.
00:39 A few weeks later, when they start the physiotherapy,
00:44 he's got the strength to hold onto their fingers.
00:48 And start the classic baby walking.
00:56 We spent quite a bit of time in the quarantine intensive care clinic area.
01:02 And during that time, we were just building up his strength.
01:07 It took about four months to go to baby school.
01:13 Baby school was really just about first interaction with the other smaller orangutans.
01:22 Is it OK, Angela?
01:25 It's about starting to climb.
01:29 Starting to eat proper food.
01:37 They're developing all the time and then they kind of move on, graduate to forest school.
01:50 And that's where it's really about starting to become a proper orangutan.
01:55 It's about building their confidence, spending less time on the ground.
01:59 And then gradually, as they're sort of getting bigger and stronger,
02:02 they're getting to the stage where you want them to spend the nights in the forest.
02:06 Woody, as he developed, considering how dependent he was at the beginning,
02:12 he became independent remarkably early in the process.
02:17 He was quite happy to spend his nights out in the forest.
02:22 Much younger than some of the other orangutans, which was great to see,
02:27 because obviously that kind of gets on the pathway to release.
02:31 We really need to be sure that they've got the very best chance of survival.
02:36 About four or five years later, he graduated.
02:40 Now to finally see him back in the jungle and him back where he belongs, still lovely.
02:48 [Music]