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Orang-utan sanctuary calls for more funds

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The full-house sign is up at Sepilok, a 10,000-hectare sanctuary in Malaysia for orang-utans, the endangered primates of the deep forest.

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Despite its vast size, with 200 orang-utans and their infants, the Sabah state sanctuary is already bursting at the seams.

'Each orang-utan needs a large area to forage,' said Karim Bujang, Sabah state minister for environment. 'The sanctuary is overcrowded and we need to urgently relocate the orangs.'

A major tourist attraction, the Sepilok centre, founded in 1964, rehabilitates orang-utan babies that were displaced by logging, hunting and deforestation, to be later released into the wild.

It takes up to six years to teach the primate babies the necessary survival skills.

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One solution for overcrowding is to move the animals to the huge 2.5 million-hectare Tabin forest reserve about 100km from Sepilok.

'But we are short of funds and need help,' Mr Karim said.

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