When International Animal Rescue IAR shared the story of one starved baby orangutan back in January 2015, the whole world came behind the poor animal to fundraise for him to get better.
The video, titled, “Crying baby orangutan Budi receives loving care after suffering year of neglect,” was viewed over 10 million times, and viewers were horrified that somebody could treat a defenseless animal in such a way.
Thanks to the kindness of the world, Budi went on to make a miraculous recovery – but first, let’s look back at the orangutan’s sorry start to life.
For the first year of his life, Budi the orangutan was horrifically neglected. He was kept in a chicken cage and was fed on nothing but condensed milk. He was slowly dying, and when International Animal Rescue arrived at the scene, they found him to be lonely, afraid, and incredibly sick.
Despite only being a baby, Budi had suffered some horrific abuse.
The extent of this could truly be seen when Budi arrived at the International Animal Rescue. He was too frail to move, and couldn’t even sit up by himself. When a vet named Karmele tried to lift him, Budi cried out in discomfort, and it’s clear that he was in a lot of pain.
Vets discovered that Budi’s frail body was bloated with fluid due to malnutrition, and his limbs were swollen and bent. Vet Jacklyn picked him up to weigh him, and you can see just how tiny and helpless he looks in her arms.
To keep the little orangutan as comfortable as possible, vets propped Budi up on some blankets and pillows and fed him with a bottle full of milk.
It was clear just how hungry he was, as he drank the bottle in record time!
Just a month later, in February 2015, we can already see just what an amazing turnaround Budi’s life has had. The video was shared by truly and shows the orangutan learning how to walk with the help of the vets. He is learning how to climb by himself, and can now eat his own food from a special tree that’s been brought in just for him!
The aim is to eventually release Budi into the wild, but there’s still a long way to go. It will require several years of serious rehabilitation before the orangutan will be able to gain back enough strength for him to survive out by himself.
However, staff is confident that the day will eventually come, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the donations from those who the story touched.
People took to the comments to share their happiness over how well Budi is recovering:
“When I saw the first video about Budi where he was in pain as they weighed him and couldn’t move from the body aches he had, I started crying immediately and I am very fortunate to have a loving boyfriend who right then and there decided to donate money on their website to help him. I am so happy to see him doing better!”
“Omg, I’m so happy that Budi is recovering, he’s such a special creature and so innocent. I don’t know but the humans are the most dangerous predators of nature, besides those I’m so glad there are incredible people who knows the value of this beautiful being.”
“I am so happy to see him doing well. I saw the first episode when this this little baby was crying all the time because of the constant pain in his swollen limbs. No more pain for him. This clip made me really happy.”
We’re over the moon that Budi is on his road to recovery now – and since almost six years has gone by since that video was shared, we’d like to think that Budi is now back out in the wild where he belongs. Watch his amazing recovery story for yourself below.
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