The Orangutan Foundation has a team of 65 local staff in Lamandau, who monitor the forest and its wildlife, protecting them from illegal activity. To protect the reserve, the Orangutan Foundation has established a series of manned guard posts around the reserve. In addition to population monitoring and public outreach, the Orangutan Foundation also operates five camps throughout the reserve where orphaned orangutans learn the skills necessary for a life in the wild.

The Bornean orangutan is considered Critically Endangered under the IUCN Red List, with approximately 100,000 left in the wild.

The orangutan population is decreasing due to habitat loss and fragmentation, illegal hunting, and fires, which occur in Borneo on a yearly basis and are responsible for significant forest loss.

2022 saw the birth of at least three orangutans in the reserve, with a further three orangutans graduating from the Foundation’s soft release programme, all of which are now living independently in the wild.

In 2017, zookeeper Aisleen Greene and Team Leader Ciaran McMahon visited Lamandau. In recognition of their visit, the Orangutan Foundation named a newborn orangutan “Dublin”, who is now nearly 5 years old! Although Dublin and his mother, Dedek, spend most of their time in the forest, they are still occasional visitors to the feeding site at Camp JL in the reserve.