WomenSpeak welcomes ® orangutan expert Celebrated conservationist Dr. Birute Galdikas did more than speak about her 25 years of conservation work when she visited Douglas College recently, she also helped the WomenSpeak Institute welcome an orangutan named Julie as its foster “child.” The sponsorship is organized through the Orangutan-Foster Parent Program run by the Orangutan Foundation International. thing to do. Here, every time an adult orangutan is returned to the wild from captivity, they are literally given a new lease on life.” She points out that she has never seen an adult in captivity. “They usually die before reaching full maturity.” The orangutan adopted by WomenSpeak is a five-year-old female who is described as “the clown of the crowd: extremely playful, but who still College employees and their children enjoyed hearing Orangutan Foundation International co-founder Dr. Birute Galdikas speak about her work in the rainforests of Borneo on November 22. Dr. Galdikas introduced Julie to the crowd through photographs, during the presentation about her work in Tanjung Puting National Park in Borneo to save the endangered species. One of the most critical aspects of Dr. Galdikas’ work is reintroducing formerly captive animals to the wild. Since orangutans can live up to 60 years, reintroduction to their native habitat can mean the difference between life and death. Working in Borneo, Galdikas says she has been “blessed by the opportunity to do good. In North America,” she laments “it’s difficult to know what is the right suckles her own big toe, not surprising because at five, in the wild, she would still be suckling at her mother’s breast.” With the help of the sponsorship, Julie will now receive medical and dietary care, as well as training in the skills necessary to survive in the rainforest. She is one of the many sponsored orangutans living in and around Tanjung Puting National Park. Many children of Douglas College employees attended the talk and were particularly fascinated by Dr. Galdikas’ work, especially because of orangutans’ human-like appearance. Dr. Galdikas herself says that’s one of the reasons she’s so interested in them. As a young Ph.D. candidate, she began what is now the longest, ongoing, continuous study by an individual researcher of any wild mammal in the world, the creatures she calls “our closest living relatives in the animal kingdom.” Galdikas also cites scientific curiosity as another reason she has devoted so much of her life to this work. “TI really want to know what’s going to happen to the individuals whose parents and offspring I know. We’re studying the third generation now, something that no researcher has been able to do before.” Her devotion to the cause of orangutans in Indonesia over the last 25 years led to the co-founding of the Orangutan Foundation International and, among other things, the establishment of the Orangutan Education and Care Center in Borneo where orphaned animals receive much-needed attention. For every infant orangutan sold illegally to a zoo, circus or the pet trade, six to eight orangutans are killed. By adopting an animal in the care of Dr. Galdikas, the WomenSpeak Institute is helping to contribute to some of the most important conservation work in the world. For more information about how you can help support the protection and study of orangutans in Borneo, contact the Orangutan Foundation International offices in Burnaby at 983-3661, by fax at 983-8189, or on the World Wide Web at . fj Quote of the Month: “It is said the best way to keep good acts in memory is to refresh them with new.” Francis Bacon —ae re eed