From Jennifer Yeap via e-mail

For 20 years, the Shangri-La’s Rasa Ria Resort & Spa (RRR) has been exploiting orangutans in Sabah at their luxury hotel. The orphan orangutans are sent there from the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre (SORC).

The resort claims to be rehabilitating the orangutans, but this is only a cover so they may exploit these creatures for tourist money as visitors are allowed to view them twice a day at the RRR.

The reader should know orangutan rehabilitation must only take place in a rehabilitation centre, not a resort and spa, and members of the public cannot be allowed in. This is to reduce the risks of the orangutans getting an infection and to prevent the humanising of the orangutans, a practice which if left to persist, will reduce the animals’ chances of being released into a forest one day. And by forest, we don’t mean Sepilok where orangutan tourism is now out of control.

Local orangutan NGO Friends Of The Orangutans (Foto) have been campaigning against the Shangri-La Group for months demanding them to stop the exploitation at RRR. We were even told that before the NGO’s campaign started they had contacted the Shangri-La management to explain the damage they were causing to the orphan orangutans, but the management ignored Foto.

We also wonder why the Sabah Wildlife Department keeps supplying RRR with orangutans from Sepilok. The SWD are aware RRR are exploiting the voiceless orangutans but they seem more than happy to allow the practice to continue. Shame on SWD. They have time and again proven to be incompetent and uncaring.

What about the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment? They too know the tragedy that occurs at RRR. Why does Minister Masidi Manjun do nothing to end the exploitation?

Malaysian Friends of the Animals (Mfota) has been informed that orangutans have died at the RRR, but the Shangri-La management has refused to reveal to Foto just how many have died. Before this incident, the said orangutans were proudly declared as having been rehabilitated from RRR. This shows that the Shangri-La management are completely unethical and do not care about the abuse of orangutans in Sabah.

If you attend a wildlife conference in Sabah, local wildlife authorities will proudly tell you how much they care about their wildlife and that they are doing their best to ensure their survival but the exploitation of the RRR orangutans proves it is all smoke and mirrors in Sabah.

Mfota demands the Sabah Wildlife Department and Minister Masidi Manjun instantly end the exploitation of orangutans at the Shangri-La Rasa Ria Resort.

Jennifer Yeap is with Malaysian Friends of the Animals (Mfota).

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