Karmele Llano Sanchez, Chief Veterinarian and Program Director of International Animal Rescue (IAR) Indonesia, is in the US to raise awareness and funds for her work rescuing and rehabilitating endangered orangutans in Borneo and reintroducing them into the wild.
Karmele heads up our large team of veterinarians, primatologists, scientists, researchers and animal keepers at IAR’s Orangutan Conservation Center in Ketapang, West Borneo. The facility is currently home to 100 of the great apes: some have been kept in captivity as pets, others were found stranded and starving after their forest habitat was destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations.
In July the Bornean orangutan was reclassified as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in response to the increasing threats to the species’ survival. The need for action to protect these extraordinary great apes, our closest cousins, could not be more urgent, and that is the message that Karmele will be sharing with audiences during her visit.
After attending the International Primate Society Congress in Chicago from 21-27 August, Karmele will be visiting a number of cities in the US to talk about IAR’s orangutan conservation project and raise funds to support it.
LA - 27th and 28th August
Atlanta - 30th August
Philadelphia – 31st August and 1st September
Westport CT – 2nd - 5th September
New York - 6th and 7th September
For further information and to arrange an interview, please contact Sophie Pollmann on: (203) 919-7386 or via email: [email protected]
See some of the orphans at the centre and listen to Karmele on CNN’s Great Big Story.