After Nine Years of Rehabilitation, Popi the Orangutan Returns to the Wild

When she was just eight weeks old, Popi’s life took a cruel turn. Her mother was almost certainly killed, and the tiny orangutan was taken from the forest and kept illegally as a pet in a village near a palm oil plantation in Borneo. In September 2016 she was confiscated, beginning a long road back to the wild that would test the patience and skill of everyone who cared for her. Nearly nine years later, in August 2025, that road finally led home.

Popi’s recovery unfolded through the painstaking work of the Borneo Orangutan Rescue Alliance, a collaboration between The Orangutan Project, the Centre of Orangutan Protection, and Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry. Like other orphaned orangutans, she attended what caregivers call “Jungle School,” where she learned to climb confidently, forage for wild foods and build the secure tree nests that orangutans need to sleep safely each night. Along the way she formed crucial social bonds with other young orangutans, and was eventually moved to a forested pre-release island to refine her skills.

“Her mother was almost certainly killed, and the tiny orangutan was taken from the forest and kept illegally as a pet in a village near a palm oil plantation in Borneo.”

Her release came on August 10, 2025, when she was transported into the Busang Ecosystem of East Borneo. The moment of truth came as her transport crate opened — and Popi did exactly what her keepers had hoped, climbing straight up into the rainforest canopy, at home among the branches. In a touching twist, she was soon reunited with Mary and Bonti, two females released before her, underlining how much social connection matters even for these famously semi-solitary apes.

Bornean orangutans remain critically endangered, threatened by deforestation, the expansion of palm oil plantations, hunting and the illegal pet trade. Every infant orphaned by these pressures requires years of devoted care before it can return to the trees, which makes each successful release deeply meaningful. Popi’s journey — from a frightened infant in a cage to a confident adult swinging through the canopy — is a vivid reminder that with enough commitment, even lives derailed by human harm can be guided back to the wild they were born for.