The Orangutan Project

The Orangutan Project was established in 1998 by founder and world-renowned orangutan expert, Leif Cocks, as a result of his 25+ year career working with orangutans - including establishing the most successful breeding colony of orangutans in the world. The Orangutan Project was formed with a key mission; to ensure that endangered wild orangutan species would be protected against extinction, and would continue to live in secure populations for generations to come. Today, The Orangutan Project is a dynamic, fast-growing and successful not-for-profit organisation that supports a wide range of critical projects that address the holistic problem facing remaining fragmented orangutan populations - including fighting deforestation and habitat loss at the highest level. The projects funded by The Orangutan Project not only include direct orangutan conservation, such as orangutan rescue, rehabilitation and release programs, but also forest habitat protection and regeneration, education, research and local community partnerships. Tying funding into direct outcomes for the species has enabled The Orangutan Project to partner with the majority of orangutan conservation projects operating on the ground today in Borneo and Sumatra. This has greatly increased overall efficiency and transparency in saving the species as a whole, bringing together the key players and groups who are working tirelessly on the ground to ensure the species’ survival. Through orangutan ‘adoptions’, regular donations and critical appeals, the organisation has been able to achieve more for the species than any other orangutan conservation group. The ongoing support from our individual donors is imperative for the organisation to reach our goal of increasing the number of wild orangutans under The Orangutan Project’s permanent protection to 8,000, to ensure sufficient numbers of each orangutan species/subspecies survive indefinitely.