Oshine, the former pet Bornean orang-utan was morbidly obese. When the team at Monkey World rescued her in August 2010 she broke the scales at 100kg – more than double the natural weight of a female orang-utan.
Since arriving at Monkey World – Ape Rescue Centre, the 14-year-old ape has been put on a health and fitness program designed to bring her weight down by losing fat while at the same time increasing her strength and agility. After 11 months the results are impressive – Oshine has lost a whopping 20 kg, is exercising and scaling a 20m climbing frame, and has even adopted an orphaned baby orang-utan named Silvestre!
“With Monkey World’s help, Oshine has turned her life around. When she arrived at the rescue centre she was morbidly obese and ran the risk of developing heart disease, blood clots, high blood pressure, and diabetes. We have been quite strict with her diet and have removed all sweets and processed foods that she used to get in addition to her normal diet and it has worked.” said Dr Alison Cronin, Director of Monkey World. “Oshine still has a long way to go and needs to lose another 20-30 kg before we will be happy with her fitness and health. I hope that by the end of this year that Oshine will have lost enough weight that we can introduce her to one of our adult groups of orang-utans where she will be able to have her own baby but until she loses more weight it would not be healthy for her.”
Monkey World is home to Europe’s orang-utan crèche where orphaned babies are sent to grow up with others of their own kind. Oshine’s rescue and rehabilitation will be featured in a new series of Monkey Life due to be launched on Animal Planet starting on August 29th.
