US will go ape for arrivals

Pictured are orangutans Gangsa (female) and Isim (male) at Auckland Zoo. Photo / Doug Sherring

Three of Auckland Zoo's best-loved characters are departing overseas.

Bornean orang-utans Madju, Isim, at right of picture, and Gangsa, left, will leave New Zealand on November 12 to join breeding programmes in the United States.

It will be an emotional departure for Madju, who turns 10 just three days before saying goodbye to his dad Charlie, mum Melur, and his "aunt" Wanita.

"Madju is at the age when orang-utans leave their parents and he is already showing signs he is getting a bit boisterous and testing their boundaries," the zoo's primate team leader Amy Robbins said. "For a while we expect they will miss him.

"They will wonder where he has gone but will soon realise they are enjoying the peace and quiet."

A team of more than 20 people - including keepers, vets and nurses - will help get the three primates into custom crates for a 12-hour flight to Los Angeles. The orang-utans will be awake during the trip in the hold of a passenger jet and will have lunch boxes and drinks for the journey.

After a month in quarantine in California, Isim, 21, and Gangsa, 25, will stay on at Los Angeles Zoo and Madju will transfer to Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida.

"It will be sad to see the orang-utans go after so many years. Some staff spend more time with them than they do with their own families," Robbins said.

"They are also much loved by the public and a lot of visitors to the zoo know them by name."

The orang-utans were always scheduled to leave as part of an international breeding programme, Robbins said. "They will be instant superstars in America where their genetic stock is of an extremely high value," she added.

Three remaining orang-utans will stay on at Auckland Zoo. Work will begin in 2017 on a new facility for the zoo's primates, before the arrival of Sumatran orang-utans.