I want to OBE like you: Royal honour for Hull conservationist
QUEEN RECOGNISES DOCTOR FOR HIS WORK WITH ORANGUTANS
A RENOWNED orangutan conservationist from Hull has been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Dr Ian Singleton, founder and director of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP), is being honoured for his services to the environment and conservation.
The award recognises 20 years’ work saving two species of orangutan from extinction - in 2017, Dr Singleton was a crucial member of a team that discovered and protected an entirely new species of orangutan in Sumatra, where they are critically endangered.
“I am extremely honoured, and very proud, that all of our hard work over the years has been recognised, but it hasn’t been the work of any one individual, or organisation,” said Dr Singleton, 54, who was born in east Hull and attended Neasden Junior High and South Holderness Schools, at a time when he was more interested in amphibians.
“This award is recognition for the entire team of dedicated conservationists, most of them Indonesian, that I have had the pleasure and honour to work with throughout my career, and our many colleagues within the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s own Conservation Department.
“In terms of being taken seriously and opening doors, I think the honour will help.
“It may enable us to raise a few more pounds or dollars here and there from donors that might have been persuaded to give to us because of something like an OBE; it will enable more meetings with senior government levels in Indonesia and I hope it will open up new doors for communication with the private sector.
“Huge amounts of land, formerly forests, and formerly habitat for orangutans, elephants, tigers and so on is now under the control of private sector companies, so we need to communicate with them, and an OBE I am sure will make that a little easier.
“And, of course, it is something that myself and my family will treasure for a very long time.”
Having worked with orangutans for more than 30 years, Dr Singleton is confident in being the only person in the world who has worked with
the animals across so many fields - captivity in zoos, field research, rehabilitation and reintroduction, habitat protection and conservation generally.
He began his association with the great apes while working for Gerald Durrell OBE, at his world-renowned Jersey Zoo, in 1989.
“Once you end up working with the apes, you don’t look back, it is a kind of a secret wish of all zookeepers,” said Dr Singleton.
Heading up the SOCP since 2001, Dr Singleton said: “I am confident we are the only organisation in the world actively creating new, genetically viable and self-sustaining wild populations of a great ape species - and we are creating two of them.
“To date, we have cared for more than 400 orangutans; 185 have been released into Bukit Tigapuluh National Park in Jambi and 125 to the Jantho Pine Forest Nature reserve in Jantho, Aceh.”
Dr Singleton was one of a team of scientists who, three years ago, revealed to the world a new species of orangutan, the Tapanuli orangutan, named after the region where it occurs, the first description of a new ape species for nearly 100 years.
Much work remains to be done, according to Dr Singleton, who said: “There are still many orangutans in Sumatra being kept illegally as pets, or trapped and isolated in fragmented forest patches.
“We need to get these individuals back to safe and protected rainforests again, where they can contribute to the future of their species.
“The value of the new wild populations we are creating has never been so apparent,” he added.
“Scientific consensus is that orangutans are likely to be susceptible to infection by the SARSCOV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 in humans, and we have a duty to keep not just our staff safe, but all of the orangutans as well, especially when we remember just how few of them there are left.”
Dr Lee Durrell MBE, widow of Gerald Durrell, said: “Ian was an exceptional keeper during his time with Gerry and me at the Jersey Zoo, but it was always obvious that he wanted to do more. It’s been extremely rewarding to watch him grow since then into what he is today, one of the most well rounded and effective conservationists for some of the planet’s most threatened species and habitats”