Lone Drøscher Nielsen (born 1964) is a Danish wildlife conservationist who established the Nyaru Menteng

Orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genu ...

Reintroduction Project in

Kalimantan Kalimantan () is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are Brunei and East Malaysia. In Indonesia, "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo. In 2019, ...

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and e ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

in 1998.

Early life and work

She was born and grew up in

Aabybro Aabybro or Åbybro is a town in North Jutland, Denmark. The town is the seat of Jammerbugt Municipality, and is the biggest town in the municipality. Aabybro is located 17 km southwest of Brønderslev, 16 km northwest of Aalborg and 30 km nort ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. She encountered her first

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genu ...

while volunteering as a fourteen-year-old at Aalborg zoo. Later, when she was working as a flight attendant for

Scandinavian Airlines Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''SAS'' is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmar ...

, she volunteered for a month-long project on the

n island of

, and here she came into contact with orangutans again. From 1996 until 2010, Drøscher Nielsen lived in Borneo to help save the

Bornean orangutan The Bornean orangutan (''Pongo pygmaeus'') is a species of orangutan endemic to the island of Borneo. Together with the Sumatran orangutan (''Pongo abelii'') and Tapanuli orangutan (''Pongo tapanuliensis''), it belongs to the only genus of great ...

from

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the Endling, last individual of the species, although the Functional ext ...

due to loss of its natural habitat due to logging and

oil palm ''Elaeis'' () is a genus of palms containing two species, called oil palms. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. The African oil palm '' Elaeis guineensis'' (the species name ''guineensis'' referring to its c ...

plantations.

Nyaru Menteng

Drøscher Nielsen sought the advice of Dr Willie Smits of the

Borneo Orangutan Survival The Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation is an Indonesian non-profit non-governmental organization founded by Dr. Willie Smits in 1991 and dedicated to the conservation of the endangered Bornean orangutan (''Pongo pygmaeus'') and its habita ...

(BOS) Foundation about the possibility of creating a new project in Central Kalimantan to deal with the swelling numbers of orphaned orangutans. Smits agreed to help, and with the financial backing of the Gibbon Foundation and BOS Indonesia, Lone founded the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Reintroduction Project in 1998. She was able to build the facility under an agreement with the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry, and Nyaru Menteng officially opened its doors to the first dozen orangutans in 1999. The sanctuary was designed to hold up to 100 orphaned orangutans while they go through rehabilitation. In addition to quarantine cages, medical clinic, and nursery, the sanctuary had a large area of forest in which orangutans could learn the skills needed to live in the wild. Nyaru Menteng quickly became the largest primate rescue project in the world, with over 600 orphaned and displaced orangutans in its care in 2009 and a staff of 200. Many of these orangutans are only weeks old when they arrive, and all of them are psychologically traumatized. The sanctuary not only saves the mostly orphaned baby orangutans from the local farmers and illegal pet-traders, but has developed a process for their gradual re-introduction to the remaining Borneo

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

. Babies and young orangutans brought to the centre are cared for 24 hours a day by a team of "babysitters". As they grow and learn they are then taken to "forest school" where they learn, still with staff present, to climb trees and survive in the forest. At the age of about eight years, they are relocated in groups of around 25 to a neighbouring island for the first stage in their release. Drøscher Nielsen lived near the Nyaru Menteng Rescue Center,

, Borneo, managing a specialized clinic of veterinarians and paramedics as well as a workforce of local Indonesians who work as babysitters caring for the orphaned orangutans in the center. In 2010 she was forced to leave Borneo and returned to Europe due to a life-threatening illness. She worked as a Senior Expert Advisor at the international organisation Save the Orangutan from her base in Wales. In July 2018, Drøscher Nielsen released a statement in response to comments made about her conduct by her former employer, Save the Orangutan, explaining her move to the

Orangutan Land Trust The Orangutan Land Trust is a UK charity with the objective of providing sustainable solutions for the long-term survival of the orangutan in the wild by ensuring safe areas of forest for their continued existence. The organization's President a ...

Television and film

Nyaru Menteng has been featured on

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily ...

's award-winning series ''

Orangutan Island ''Orangutan Island'' is an American documentary television series, in the style of the earlier series ''Meerkat Manor'', that blends more traditional documentary filming with dramatic narration. The series was produced by NHNZ with creator Judit ...

'', the BBC's ''

Orangutan diary ''Orangutan Diaries'' is a nature documentary series on the BBC, which follows the lives of Bornean orangutans in the care of Lone Drøscher Nielsen, a member of the Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) foundation. The program tries to detail the thr ...

'', ''

Saving Planet Earth ''Saving Planet Earth'' is a season of nature documentaries with a conservation theme, screened on BBC Television in 2007 to mark the 50th anniversary of its specialist factual department, the BBC Natural History Unit. The series featured films ...

'' and ''Growing Up... Orangutan'' (BBC/

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

). Drøscher Nielsen starred in the 2008 Australian documentary-drama, '' The Burning Season''.

Writing

In 2006 Drøscher Nielsen published ''From Forest Kindergarten to Freedom'' with Pia Lykke Bertelsen in English, German and Danish. The book is a photographic story that follows two baby orangutans, Emma and Emil, growing up in the rehabilitation centre and eventually being released into the wild, with photos by Humphrey Watchman,

Steve Leonard Stephen Leonard (born 4 September 1972 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish veterinarian and television personality. Early life Leonard's family moved to Cheshire from Northern Ireland when he was six weeks ...

, Sam Gracey, Lone Drøscher Nielsen and Danielle Brandt.

References

External links

Meet Lone at Orangutan OutreachVideo of Lone Drøscher Nielsen's presentation at Qi GLOBAL 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Droscher Nielsen, Lone 1964 births Living people Keepers of animal sanctuaries Nature conservation in Indonesia Danish conservationists Danish women environmentalists Danish activists Danish women activists Orangutan conservation People from Central Kalimantan People from Jammerbugt Municipality Danish emigrants to Indonesia