Born Free works with a wide range of corporate partners to raise vital funds for a variety of our programmatic work to protect wild animals. It is so wonderful to be able to advise and support the companies we work with to enhance their ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) and make a positive contribution.

Molly Rutherford

Orangutan Caring Week is a worldwide annual event that raises awareness to the plight of orangutans. I personally fell in love with the species in Borneo, observing the efforts of Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary in 2014, where they rehabilitate orangutans orphaned due to illegal logging, deforestation and being kept as pets. I was amazed to learn that rehabilitation takes up to seven years, to enable orphans to obtain vital survival skills they should have learnt from their mothers.

Born Free supports our friends at the Orangutan Foundation, an organisation that has worked extremely hard over the past three decades to protect critical orangutan habitat in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Orangutans were once widespread across southeast Asia, but an estimated 80% of their forest habitat has been lost in the last 30 years. The Orangutan Foundation works to protect wild orangutans and their habitats by operating routine patrols and guard posts within Tanjung Puting National Park, as well as gradually releasing rescued orphan orangutans back into Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. Thanks to their efforts, illegal activities have reduced, the forest is slowly regenerating, species are returning and the ecosystem is transforming back into its former self, while rehabilitated orangutans have successfully gone on to have babies of their own.

Born Free helps to support and fund this vital work through our adoption of Timtom the orphan orangutan. Timtom was just a baby when stolen from her wild mother in Borneo, to be kept as a pet. Luckily, she was rescued by the Orangutan Foundation and is making good progress, as she prepares for life in the wild in Lamandau Wildlife Reserve.

Beauty products company 7th Heaven has been supporting our work for three years now, releasing an orangutan printed sheet mask in 2021 to especially support our work with the Orangutan Foundation. Their face masks are cruelty free, under their leaping bunny programme – using ethical, vegan, and vegetarian formulations. Why not treat yourself to a Timtom inspired face mask, knowing you’re supporting the work of Born Free and the Orangutan Foundation!

There has never been a more important time to align your brand with Born Free and the values we share to keep wildlife in the wild – values that really mean something to millions of people across the world.

Get in touch with me (molly@bornfree.org.uk) to begin exploring just what our future together looks like, how we can bring value to our respective organisations, and how we can make a real difference to wild animals, just when they need us most.

Adopt an Orangutan