Orangutans being exploited at 5-star luxury resort

Friends of the Orang-utan (Foto) allege that the Shangri-La Rasa Ria Resort is not rehabilitating orphan orangutans but using them to attract tourists and earn profits instead

KOTA KINABALU: Orphan orangutans are being exploited for profit and not rehabilitated as claimed by the Shangri-La Rasa Ria Resort, an NGO called Friends of the Orang-utan (Foto) has claimed.

In a statement, its director Upreshpal Singh said, “The Shangri-La Group has been exploiting orphan orangutans, probably victims of the palm oil industry, for years while fooling the public into thinking they keep orangutans for altruistic reasons. It’s a scandal.”

He further stated that orangutans in rehabilitation did not belong in a luxury resort and that they were being used by the Shangri-La Group as “assets” to make them profits and nothing else.

According to the Shangri-La website, the purpose of the Rasa Ria Resort’s “Orang-utan Care” project was to rehabilitate these primates for the express purpose of releasing them into the wild later at the Sepilok Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre (SORC) in Sandakan where they will continue their rehabilitation.

However, Upreshpal claimed that the Shangri-La Group was using the facade of rehabilitation to exploit orangutans at the five-star resort through tourism for profit.

“For over 10 years, the Rasa Ria Resort has been continuously supplied with orphan orangutans from the SORC in Sandakan,” he said, while also questioning the treatment of the orangutans in their care.

He further alleged that some orangutans had died at the resort although officials remained tight-lipped about the matter.

“Late last year an orangutan called ‘Tenten’ died at Rasa Ria. We asked the Shangri-La Group to publicly announce the number of other orangutans from Sepilok who have died at the resort but they have refused to do so while ignoring our request to voluntarily stop the exploitation.”

Vowing to campaign until the exploitation stops, Upreshpal said, “Foto is demanding the Shangri-la Group stop the exploitation of Sabah’s orangutans and to return all existing orangutans at Rasa Ria back to the SORC.”

The NGO also said they wanted confirmation from SORC that no more orangutans would ever be sent to the resort again.