Dr. Birute Galdikas is recognized as the most knowledgeable person on the subject of orangutans. She has lived in the tropical rainforest of Borneo for over 20 years. Like Jane Goodall, Dr. Galdikas was encouraged by the renowned Dr. Louis Leakey to study the unique Asian great ape with long red hair - the orangutan or "person of the forest". She not only studied the wild orangutan and devoted her time to the maintenance of the rainforest, she also rehabilitated those orphaned orangutans placed in her care. She is also devoted to the Indonesian people and their culture. Dr. Galdikas founded and is president of the Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) which has chapters in five countries and a small devoted membership. She helped care for and repatriate the famous and very ill "Bangkok Six" orangutans in 1990. As an intergovernmental liaison, she helped walk both governments' officials through a sea of international red tape to secure the proper permits for the return to their native land of Indonesia. In addition, Galdikas, through OFI helped draw attention to the lucrative illegal orangutan pet trade in Taiwan. Her actions resulted in the decision of the Taiwan government to ban the import of all primates to the island; the creation of the Orangutan Foundation in Taiwan and the repatriation of 10 confiscated orangutans to Indonesia.
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