I created the Orangutan Survival Trust for my horror novella, Blood River, but there are real organisations working tirelessly to prevent orangutans from going extinct. Please support them.
Many orangutan conservation charities enable you to help them through more than simple donations. You can adopt and sponsor rescued orangutans, or sponsor acres of land in their reservations. There are rainforest-friendly products which contain no palm oil (or only highly-selected sustainable palm oil), and with tourism opening up, there are partnerships with sustainable tourism ventures.
As yet, Covid-19 has prevented the return of voluntourism schemes like the one depicted in Blood River, but hopefully they will return.
Orangutan conservation charities
The Orangutan Foundation UK inspired my fictional organisation, and really does operate a group of reserves in the jungles of Borneo. They’re dedicated to saving a rainforest that supports apes, monkeys, clouded leopards and thousands of other endangered species. Its US-based sibling is the Orangutan Foundation International.
You might also be familiar with Borneo Orangutan Survival from the TV show Orangutan Jungle School. They help orangutans orphaned by the illegal pet trade and habitat loss caused by the palm oil industry, forestry and mining.
You can also support the Orangutan Appeal UK, which aids conservation and rehabilitation projects across Malaysia and Indonesia Borneo.
International Animal Rescue helps endangered species around the world, with a particular focus on hunting and the illegal pet trade.
The Orangutan Project collaborates with several orangutan conservation projects, as well as running its own its own programs to deter wildlife poaching, illegal logging and land clearing in Indonesia.
Orang Utan Republik Foundation focuses on sustainable development and eduction to maintain habitats in both Borneo and Sumatra.
Sumatra is the only other island in the world on which orangutans live, the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan and the recently-discovered Tapanuli orangutan. You can help them through the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme.