Policy & Advocacy for Orangutan Conservation

Statements from OVAG on Ebola, tuberculosis and hepatitis status in orangutans have been acted on by conservation projects and Government alike. A welfare and euthanasia policy has also been agreed on by all participants.

Specific Government bodies which have recently benefited from OVAG participation include Sarawak Forestry Department, who received training on dealing with wildlife disease outbreak in a national park in 2015 at the OVAG annual workshop, and Sabah Wildlife Department, who highlighted issues of biosecurity and human-wildlife conflict in Sepilok National Park and a developing crisis of EEHV in wild elephants. Training in community biosecurity and networking with the South East Asian Zoos Association was therefore delivered through OVAG in 2016.

In 2017, OVAG became the primary disease risk communucator for the current Orangutan PHVA. A PHVA looks at current population dynamics, habitat and distribution, and then makes predictions for the viability (capability of surviving) of the population in the future.