A tiny orphaned orangutan with a remarkable story has recently arrived at Monkey World near Wool in Dorset, where staff are providing round the clock care to give her the best possible start in life.
Sammie, a female Bornean orangutan, was born on Monday 29th September 2025 at Apenheul Zoo in the Netherlands, but her mother fell ill and died just two days after giving birth, leaving the newborn without the care she desperately needed.
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Four month old Sammie is settling in to her new home at Monkey World after her mother died suddenly
Innovative great ape creche
After unsuccessful attempts to find her a foster family at Chester Zoo where two orangutan mums were raising babies of their own, Sammie was taken to Monkey World to be raised in their innovative great ape creche.
Now at just a few months old and weighing around three and a half kilogrammes, Sammie is being looked after day and night by the park’s Primate Care team, but crucially also beginning gentle introductions to two other young orangutans, Sibu and Kiwi.
Sammie will require round the clock care before she can join the nursery creche full time, but is already interacting well with her adopted brother and sister.
The creche programme helps orphaned orangutans grow up with others of their kind under the guidance of a matriarch and learn essential life skills through social interaction and play.
To help cope with the unexpected arrival, staff at the ape rescue centre have put out an appeal for much needed milk and vitamin supplies to help Sammie put on weight and build up strength.
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Little Sammie has already captured the hearts of staff at Monkey World, near Wool
“You can never plan what is coming”
Alison Cronin, director of Monkey World, said:
“You can never plan on what is coming our way, and here comes little Sammie. At just four months old, she is obviously much younger than the other kids, Sibu and Kiwi, but they have been really lovely with her and are drawn to her as much as she is to them.
“What we do here at the nursery is really important, as it isn’t hand rearing the animals in the original style, it’s actually creche rearing, and this is the difference – they grow up learning to be orangutans rather than little human beings.
“Introductions are all going really well and Sammie is already getting to know orangutans, reaching out to the others. It is what they need – companionship of their own kind.
“This is why we have been so successful in graduating individuals from the creche to go on and live with others of their own kind and eventually to be good parents themselves.”
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Introductions have been made to Sibu and Kiwi, the two year old ‘kids’
Hope of an adoptive mother
Sammie was born in Apenheul Zoo in the Netherlands, a planned birth to an orangutan mum who was looking after her very well, but who tragically fell ill and passed away when Sammie was only two days old.
Rather than hand rear the baby, a decision was made to send her to Chester Zoo which has two females who are caring for their own offspring, in the hope that one of those would become an adoptive mother to Sammie and feed her on orangutan milk.
Sadly, the plan didn’t work out, and the females continued to look after their own babies brilliantly, but not Sammie.
In the absence of her own mother and an adoptive family, the back up plan was to bring Sammie to Dorset to effectively be reared by other orangutans.
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Alison Cronin and her staff will give Sammie round the clock care until she is old enough to join the creche full time
“It is a big commitment”
Alison Cronin said:
“We have reassembled the creche care team, and everyone has their work cut out. It is a big commitment and one we don’t take lightly.
“Sammie will be with us for at least 10 years but we have a baby room set up, and two orangutan kids who have been with us for just over a year.
“We are going to be in need of more nappies and more baby milk and supplies for this little one.
“She was rather emaciated but is now pulling herself up and can stand up on her own and I’m hoping she will be able to come down here and join the kids in a couple of months.
“Sammie is a confident and happy little girl thanks to the hard work and dedication of the keepers at Apenheul and Chester Zoos, who tried everything possible to give her an orangutan mother and still make sure that the infant was safe and well cared for.”
Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre near Wool was set up in 1987 to rescue chimpanzees used as props by Spanish beach photographers
“She is so small and vulnerable”
Alison added:
“It is important that orangutans grow up with others of their own kind engaging in normal orangutan behaviour and we can offer this to Sammie in our special creche.
“I am pleased to say that little Sammie is already meeting her adoptive brother and sister, and even though she is so small and vulnerable she is absolutely drawn to them and likewise Sibu and Kiwi are gentle and wanting to interact with the baby.
“It won’t be long before Sammie is ready to join her adopted family in the creche full time.”
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Sibu with some of his first birthday presents at Monkey World’s orangutan creche
Creche has been running since 2005
The orangutan creche programme supports orphaned youngsters as they grow up together under the guidance of an experienced foster mother, learning vital life skills through play and social interaction.
The programme has been running since 2005, and Sammie is the 14th orphan to be cared for through it. Monkey World has previously welcomed orphaned orangutans from across Europe, including Switzerland, France, Spain, Germany and, Ireland, and all female graduates of the creche have gone on to successfully raise their own young.
Sammie’s new brother, Sibu, arrived from Ireland in October 2024, after his mother did not possess the skills to breastfeed him, so a difficult decision was taken to move Sibu to Monkey World, to save the youngster.
The team at Dublin Zoo cared for Sibu Junior round the clock for the first couple months of his life, while arrangements were made to transfer him to ape rescue centre at Wool, which was then home to four other young orangutans born in zoos who were also unable to be reared by their own mothers.
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Kiwi was given first class travel on a ferry when she was taken from Spain to Dorset
Cared for by foster mother Oshine
A month later, a female Bornean orangutan, Kiwi, was also moved to the Monkey World. She had been born at Rio Safari Elche, in Spain, but was sadly rejected by her mother shortly after her birth.
The zoo made efforts to reintroduce her to the mother, and also attempted to see if another female orangutan would adopt her.
Unfortunately, these attempts were unsuccessful so they were forced to hand-rear to save the young female’s life, while her move to Monkey World could be arranged.
At Monkey World, they are now cared for by the crèche foster mother Oshine, a Bornean orangutan who was rescued from the illegal pet trade in South Africa in 2010.
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Sammie will eventually grow up in the orangutan creche with a foster mother
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