No building permit, no move for Rusti

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Rusti the orangutan's move from the Honolulu Zoo has been put on hold again, this time because there was no building permit for his new home at Kualoa Ranch.

The Orangutan Foundation International announced Feb. 11 that it would build a temporary enclosure at the ranch for the orangutan while a large permanent home was built.

However, on March 17, the city issued a notice of violation to OFI and John Morgan of Kualoa Ranch because the concrete cage was built without a building permit.

The organization may be able to obtain a permit by paying a penalty or it may have to go through a longer process that could require a public hearing, City spokeswoman Carol Costa said.

OFI's Dr. Birute Mary Galdikas said the organization didn't realize a building permit was required. She is optimistic that the problems will be solved.

"This is a sanctuary," she said. "This is where we hope that he will be able to retire for the rest of his life."

She said that she thinks the larger 40-foot-by-40-foot enclosure will be built within six months of Rusti's move to Kualoa.

This is the latest of several delays Rusti has endured since arriving at the Honolulu Zoo more than five years ago.

The orangutan foundation had planned for him to be the first resident of a orangutan sanctuary on the Big Island.

However, the sanctuary never materialized and Rusti has been a semipermanent occupant in a 1950s cage the zoo wants to raze and turn into an aviary.