Fond farewell after 25 years

Photo: JASON OXENHAM

FOND FAREWELL: Zookeeper Christine Tintinger will say goodbye to orang-utan Indra after 25 years of friendship.

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Goodbyes are never easy and the boxes of tissues will be on hand at Auckland Zoo this month as keepers say farewell to three lifelong friends.

Senior primate keeper Christine Tintinger has been looking after Auckland Zoo’s Bornean orang-utans since the first female, Indra, arrived at the age of three.

At the end of this month, she’ll say her final farewells to Indra, now 28, along with daughter Intan, 20, and her father Horst, 31, as they board a Cargolux 747 freight plane bound for Busch Gardens Zoo in Tampa, Florida.

Over the 25 years, Westmere resident Christine has formed a special bond with Indra, who arrived as the zoo’s first orang-utan in 1983 from Rotterdam Zoo in the Netherlands.

"She is such an iconic animal," says Christine.

"I’ve known her for such a long time."

But she says even though it’s going to be sad, the fact that the three are going as a group is comforting.

The trio will join four other Bornean orang-utans at Busch Gardens to assist the zoo’s captive breeding programme there.

Horst has been specially selected because he has an excellent bloodline, says Christine.

He’ll become the No 1- ranked male in the United States breeding programme.

Intan, who has a different bloodline to her father, will also contribute to diversifying the worldwide pool of genetics for the endangered species when she breeds, something crucial to their survival.

The orang-utans will leave on the morning of July 27 and travel in three, custom built 200kg aluminium crates to Los Angeles Zoo, where they’ll stay in quarantine for at least 30 days before transferring to Florida.

"It’s a challenge, it’s an adventure for them," says Christine. "You’ve got to give them credit.

"They’ve got each other and they’re very adaptable."

Not only will the three be moving to a much bigger enclosure at Busch Gardens, their departure will help to create some much needed space for Auckland Zoo’s remaining six orang-utans.

Christine says when she first started caring for Indra, she had no experience with orang-utans and had to base her knowledge around her previous work with the zoo’s chimpanzees.

She says the huge apes, which share 97 percent of their genetics with humans, can be described as "the thinking man’s ape".

"They don’t really show their emotions, but they’re thinking all the time.

"They’re more subtle."

A public farewell day this Sunday will be a chance for zoo visitors to say goodbye to the trio.

The day will include orang-utan encounters, a farewell album for signing and the sale of original paintings by Indra and Horst to raise money for the Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund.

For more information on the farewell day, visit www.aucklandzoo.co.nz.