Canberra is hosting several exciting events to help celebrate World Environment Day on 5 June. A particular focus will be on raising much-needed funds and to become more informed about the dire situation bears and orangutans are facing. Saving bears and orangutans is reaching crisis point – orangutans could be extinct in the wild in the next ten years!
Orangutans won’t have a forest home left due to rapidly expanding palm oil plantations and habitat loss in Borneo and Sumatra.
In Asia, bears are increasingly threatened by the activities of humans; trapped in crude wire snares, butchered for their body parts or caged for the extraction of their bile, they are one of the most highly sought-after species in an illegal trade that is decimating the region’s wildlife.
Two international conservationists are leading the way. The President of Wildlife Asia and The Orangutan Project, Leif Cocks, and the CEO of Free the Bears, Matt Hunt, will be in Canberra conducting unique and exclusive events between 4 and 7 June. This includes:
- Breakfast and interactive tour of the National Zoo and Aquarium – only 20 tickets available to join Matt and Leif on a private interactive tour of the zoo;
- Wildlife photography courses at the National Zoo and Aquarium with Matt and renown professional photographer, Peter Yuen;
- A panel of international experts discussing palm oil and its impact on wildlife will be held at the zoo – includes the ACT launch of the Palm Oil Resistance Program;
- “Bears and Orangutans: do they stand a chance?” Brief presentations will be followed by a fun night at Teatro Vivaldi Restaurant with delicious canapés and opportunities to chat to with Leif and Matt;
- Leif will launch Professor Robert Cribb’s latest book “Wild Man from Borneo: a Cultural History of the Orangutan” at the Asian Bookroom.
Details and tickets from www.orangutan.org.au/upcoming-events
(Media Release – The Orangutan Project)
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