Jungle Island orangutan family gets new digs. ‘I know they have a home for life.’
Hanna likes to take walks and explore her new digs. Sinbad and Connie make nests in the chutes over the creek. And twins Peanut and Pumpkin, who are 17, are settling in and traveling around the aerial trailways of their new home.
The cast of five are the orangutans who once called Jungle Island home.
The Watson Island theme park is undergoing a transformation into an eco-adventure park. As part of the changes, the orangutans were sent to the Center for Great Apes in Wauchula, which is a small rural community in Central Florida.
“They are settling in nicely,” Patti Ragan, founder of the sanctuary, said Thursday. “It’s different for each one.”
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Ragan opened the center in the late 1990s after creating a non-profit organization dedicated to caring for orangutans and chimpanzees that cannot survive in the wild. Most of them come from various attractions or circuses. The sanctuary has more than 100 acres and has 28 orangutans and 31 chimpanzees.
Ragan said several of the orangutans from Jungle Island have relatives at the center.
“Here they have a permanent home,” she said.
The owners of Jungle Island, ESJ Capital Partners, received unanimous approval in first reading Thursday of most of the zoning and land-use changes it was seeking in order to build a hotel with up to 300 rooms. They will take a final vote on the entire package on Feb. 25.
In 2018, the Miami commission made the zoning changes contingent on the park finding new homes for the large animals.
“This was very important to me. I wanted to make sure they had a sanctuary to go to,” said Commissioner Ken Russell, who led the effort. “I am very happy where [the orangutans] are now.
The park, which also transferred its big cats to different sanctuaries, will still have some animals including parrots and lemurs, but the attraction decided that sending the orangutans to the sanctuary was the best option. The park donated money to the center so it can expand, giving the orangutans more space. It also donated the domes the orangutans were living in at Jungle Island.
“Along with Jungle Island’s veterinarian and the orangutans’ caretaker, we feel this is the right decision for the orangutans,” said Micha Dubernard, chief of staff at ESJ Capital Partners in a news release., “It was important to us that we find a facility where they can be together and stay as a family, as well as receive unrivaled care. They are in a peaceful, tranquil environment and will always be cherished in the stories shared with guests at Jungle Island.”
The orangutans’ longtime caregiver at Jungle Island, Linda Jacobs, said the move was “bittersweet.”
“They are in the most loving, caring place they could be in,” said Jacobs shortly after the orangutans were transferred to the sanctuary in late September. “I know they have a home for life.”
One of the orangutans, Peanut, made headlines when she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2012 and became a cancer survivor.
Recently she was diagnosed with kidney disease. The park said she seems to be getting used to her new surroundings: “...She is quite resilient and is living her best orangutan life.”
Miami Herald staff writer Andres Viglucci contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 29, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
