The great ape has been on an extended stay at the Honolulu Zoo for more than five years, and his welcome is wearing thin. The zoo wants to raze his cage and replace it with a walk-through lorikeet exhibit in which zoo visitors will be able to touch and feed the birds.

Yesterday, the state Board of Agriculture unanimously approved plans to hold Rusti in a 14-foot by 19-foot pen at Kualoa, with the provision that a 40-foot by 40-foot cage is built within one year.

Despite animal-rights activists' contention that Orangutan Foundation International has broken several promises to put the 270-pound ape in a proper home, foundation volunteer Nancy Briggs assured the board that the organization only has Rusti's best interests at heart.

"No one cares more about Rusti than we do," Briggs said.

The temporary cage already is under construction, and Briggs and John Morton of Kualoa Ranch said construction on the permanent enclosure can begin immediately and will take between six months and one year.

But two people who have paid close attention to Rusti's plight asked the board to refuse amending the permit to allow a move to the Windward facility and questioned whether the foundation would come through with the larger cage and orangutan sanctuary.

The foundation already had a permit to move Rusti to a Big Island orangutan sanctuary that they ended up not building.

Pamela Davis and Cathy Goeggel also pointed out that the temporary cage will be smaller than Rusti's accommodations at the zoo.

The foundation, which rescued Rusti from a roadside zoo and moved him to Honolulu in 1997, had planned to keep him at the zoo for a few months while they constructed the Big Island sanctuary. Then last year, the foundation said Rusti would be moved to the Center for Orangutan and Chimpanzee Conservation Center in Florida.

The new plan to move Rusti to Kualoa was announced Feb. 11.

Davis noted incidents when the foundation had said construction on the Big Island sanctuary was set to begin and that the financing was in place.

She then referred to the foundation press release, which "states that this horrible enclosure is only 'temporary,' and they will construct a new, wonderful building in the near future to house him in a natural setting.

"Does this ring a bell? Didn't OFI promise that Rusti would only be 'temporarily' at the Honolulu Zoo, and that the sanctuary was just about to be constructed?" Davis asked. "Why should we believe them now?"

She argued that Rusti should be moved to the Florida facility, where the foundation already has constructed a pen for him.

Goeggel, of Animal Rights Hawaii, complained about the conditions of other animals kept at Kualoa Ranch, and displayed photographs of a 42-year-old spider monkey kept in a small, barren cage.

Goeggel said she also complained to the Hawaiian Humane Society about the conditions of the saddle horses.

"Kualoa Ranch is not an adequate place for any of the animals," she said. "(Rusti) is a sad animal. He deserves better than this."

But Briggs defended the plans to keep Rusti on O'ahu, noting that a plane ride could be dangerous.

When Rusti was sedated for medical tests four years ago, his heart stopped beating and he had to be resuscitated, she said. If he was tranquilized for a plane ride, "the reality is he could die, and all of this work would be in vain."

She said the permanent enclosure will be bigger than Rusti has ever had and will have a view of Mokoli'i islet in Kane'ohe Bay.