Rusti

10 February, 2003

Dear Dr. Galdikas:

We have been concerned about Rusti, the Orangutan, for a very long time. He has been living in a barren cage at the Honolulu Zoo for almost 6 years. Originally he was to be housed there temporarily whilst a sanctuary was being created. A year ago, your plans to build at Panaewa on Hawai'i were abandoned. Still Rusti languished at the Honolulu Zoo.

We then learned that Rusti was going to be sent to a sanctuary in Florida. Aloha Rusti signs were placed in front of his cage and he was to leave by the end of January, 2003.

February arrived and Rusti is still at the Honolulu Zoo…and then an abrupt change of plans:

We were horrified to learn that Rusti is now destined to live at Kualoa Ranch, a roadside zoo. We visited Kualoa on February 6, 2003. Besides sad, dispirited saddle horses, 2 rams, some cows, a pig, chickens and geese, there is a miserable 38-year-old Spider Monkey in a rusty barren cage. He had no environmental enrichment, no fruits or vegetables-just a lick bottle and a plastic cup containing what looked like corn flakes.

Right next to the poor Spider Monkey, workers are building Rusti's new cage-which is even smaller than the one he has lived in at the Honolulu Zoo. It is a concrete and metal cube (even the construction workers remarked that it is too small for him).

I wonder if you have visited Kualoa because if you truly care about Rusti, and if you saw the wretched conditions, you would not send him there.

Security is non-existent. We wandered all about the property, taking photographs - and no one asked what we were doing and who we were.

OFI's mission statement says, in part:
"The mission of the Orangutan Foundation International is to support the conservation and understanding of the orangutan and its rain forest habitat while caring for ex-captive individuals as they make their way back to the forest".

It would appear that Rusti has come full circle- from a horrible zoo (now closed down) in New Jersey to "rescue" and back to a roadside zoo (Kualoa is NOT even an AZA member) He may be able to see the forest from his cage, but he will be a prisoner, confined to hard concrete rather than trees and grass; his rescue will not be complete until he resides permanently in an accredited sanctuary.
Many fine, caring people worked tirelessly to get Rusti released from the Scotch Plains Zoo. I doubt that they would approve of the manner in which he has been treated in the six years that he has been under the guardianship of OFI.
We ask therefore, implore you to reconsider sending Rusti to Kualoa. We have heard that the Center for Orangutan and Chimpanzee Conservation in Florida would still welcome him - and it has other Orangutans. In Hawai'i, there are no others of Rusti's kind. How very sad!

We would appreciate the opportunity to discuss Rusti's future with you - to make sure that he will really be rescued this time. You may contact me at 808.944.2545.