Debra Keenan
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY- Non Available
JOHNNY
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From Pet Cage to Forest Canopy
Johnny’s life began in confinement. Rescued in September 2012 by International Animal Rescue (IAR) from the city of Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Johnny showed all the signs of having been torn from his mother at a very young age and raised in captivity. Though he was physically healthy upon arrival, Johnny was extremely habituated to humans and lacked the natural behaviours of a wild orangutan.
At the IAR Centre in Ketapang, Johnny entered quarantine alongside another rescued orangutan, Roy, before moving through the stages of IAR’s intensive rehabilitation program. Over the next four years, Johnny learned the survival skills he had been denied—how to climb, forage, build nests, and fend for himself in the forest. He spent time in forest school and eventually on pre-release islands, honing his instincts and strength.
On 23 November 2016, Johnny and his companion Desi were finally released into the lush canopy of Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park. Their return to the wild marked the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new life of freedom—far from the cage and chains of their past.