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'I saved for years to care for orangutans' - Susan ready for three-month stint in Borneo
A ORANGUTAN enthusiast is swapping Calderdale for the wilds of Borneo.
Susan Lee, 38, of Ripponden, is leaving her husband and job behind and paying nearly 6,000 to spend three months caring for orangutans on the south-east Asian island.
But primate-lover Susan, who works in IT at the Halifax Bank, Copley, says nothing could get in the way of pursuing her dream.
"I've always had a thing about orangutans, chimps and gorillas," she said. "They are so lovable and I just adore them.
"I can relate to them as well, they are very life-like and I can see myself in them. I have saved for years for this but it is worth every penny, I would pay double."
Susan, who will be staying in a guest house with 12 other volunteers at the Sepilok centre in the Sabha jungle – where she has worked before – will be helping to rehabilitate orangutans traumatised by poaching, logging and the illegal pet trade.
She said: "Over the past 100 years it is estimated the orangutan population has declined by about 90 per cent – it is terrible what is happening to them."
"We will be feeding them, cleaning their sleeping quarters, teaching them to climb and playing with them. I'm just so excited to have this chance." Susan will be leaving on May 5 and will meet husband Mike for a holiday at the end of the trip.
The name orangutan means "man of the forest". Their diet includes fruit, leaves, insects and bark and they are active during the day and sleep in treetop nests at night.
It is estimated there are about 30,000 orangutans remaining in Borneo.
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