Raped Everyday Orangutan Recovers After 15 Years
An orangutan named, ‘Pony’ from Borneo was chained, shaved every day, and raped for years by men. She was rescued and it took her 15 years to shed off her traumatic experience.
An orangutan named, ‘Pony’ from SouthEast Asia was chained, shaved every day, and raped for years by men. She was rescued and it took her 15 years to shed off her traumatic experience. Orangutans or other primates are sold off for £10,000 for prostitution. There are reports that if four baby orangutans are captured then at least three are killed. These helpless and defenceless animals can be also bought via Instagram or Facebook. Pony was made to lay on a dirty mattress and chained to the wall, palm oil workers near Borneo would come to the village to engage in sexual activity with her. She was made to wear jewellery and perfume and the men twice her size would pay money to rape her repeatedly. Pony was made to undergo this sickening abuse for years until she was finally set free in 2003.
Michelle Desilets was the Director of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation UK when Pony was rescued. She said, “It was horrifying. She was a sex slave, it was grotesque. It took her 15 years to get over her traumatic ordeal and trust humans again.”The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation further said that the house owners kidnapped her from her mother when she was young. They do not know how long she was kept in captivity and treated as a prostitute but when they rescued her, she was 6 years old. When she was found, she was covered in abscesses due to frequent shaving and was prone to blisters and mosquito bites.
While trying to rescue her, the rescuers were forced and threatened with guns and knives and her ‘madam’ refused to give her up. For her, Pony was a cash machine. It was difficult for Pony but she has recovered fully in these 15 years. Lone Droscher-Nielson, who helped rescue Pony said, “It was important that she trusted us first. We tried to keep men away from her enclosure as she was afraid of them. She could not be let go in the wild as she has been in captivity for a long time and had never developed survival skills.
After her quarantine, she was taken to an enclosure with only female orangutans. After her rescue, initially it took her time to trust men and she would often get scared whenever she faced men. She slowly recovered and male carers were slowly introduced to her. She did not seem to be afraid of them anymore and she was happy with any company she could have. Piny now stays with seven other orangutans in Nyaru Menteng Rehabilitation Centre.
