Ever wondered how TOP began?
TOP President Leif Cocks, explains...
My relationship with orangutans started when I was working with the big cats at Perth Zoo. When Charlie Broomfield, who had been the Orangutan Keeper for the last 20 years retired, I was asked to go and work in the Primate Section to take his place. I started working with orangutans and then discovered that not only did I like orangutans, but also that they liked me. This allowed me to enter the enclosure with them and do many things that other keepers could not. So, I continued to be their keeper for 12 years and developed the understanding that orangutans are sentient, intelligent ‘persons’ whose welfare and basic ‘rights’ can only be met by living free in protected habitats. For a total of 25 years the orangutans remained under my supervision as a Curator, where I coordinated the program to release them back to the wild.
Today the TOP Projects Coordinator, Kylie Bullo, is in charge of caring for them on a daily basis however I still meet them regularly and have contact sessions.
TOP started when the old Australian chapter of Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) closed down. The President of OFI, Birute Galdikas asked if I would take over the chapter. After consideration I said I would not want to however, I agreed to start an orangutan organisation in Australia that would help her good work as well as others, so I gathered a small group of volunteers and we started.
The underlying philosophy of the TOP is:
- no criticism of fellow orangutan organisations
- building partnerships between organisations, and
- funds to be distributed according to scientifically determined conservation priorities.
The involvement of our wonderful volunteers in Borneo and Australia enables TOP to raise critically needed funds for projects on the ground in Borneo and Sumatra.
Read More