Deal reached on Rusti's new digs
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Staff Writer
After years of uncertainty, it now appears that Rusti the orangutan will get a permanent home at the Honolulu Zoo.
Advertiser library photo
The City Council Parks Committee unanimously agreed yesterday to accept a gift from a private foundation to build a new, more spacious habitat at the zoo for the 26-year-old male orangutan, setting up new terms and conditions that had hampered previous efforts. The committee's recommendation goes to the full council next month.
Rusti the orangutan is one of the most popular animals at the Honolulu Zoo.
Rusti was brought to Honolulu in 1997 after his owners, the Orangutan Foundation International, helped to remove him from what they considered substandard conditions at a New Jersey zoo. For the past seven years, he has lived in a cage at the Honolulu Zoo while various plans for a permanent sanctuary, including locations on the Big Island and Kualoa Ranch in Windward O'ahu, have evaporated.
The foundation had agreed to provide at least $200,000 to build a new enclosure at the Honolulu Zoo, but wanted to choose Rusti's keeper and participate in his care. A top zoo accreditation official warned that such a deal could violate American Zoo and Aquarium Association requirements, possibly jeopardizing the zoo's standing.
But a new memorandum of understanding reached between the zoo and the foundation would give final decision-making authority over Rusti's care to the zoo director Ken Redman and his successors.
Questions had also been raised previously about how much money the organization would be willing to put up should Rusti's enclosure grow more expensive, but it has now given assurances that it will complete the habitat at whatever amount it costs, according to foundation and zoo officials yesterday.
"The habitat is really intended to provide Rusti with the kind of enclosure that would be significantly closer to the type of environment that an orangutan would enjoy in the wild — a lot more spacious quarters, a huge banyan tree that he can climb, overnight quarters that he can actually utilize," said Barry Fukunaga, the city's director of enterprise services.
The memorandum also states that any fund-raising activity associated with Rusti, one of the zoo's most popular animals, could only be used to benefit him, and not the Orangutan Foundation's other activities.
Because the zoo director would now have final authority over Rusti's care, council members and zoo officials said they no longer are concerned about seeking indemnity from liability over the animal.
Parks Chairman Mike Gabbard said he wants the amended agreement completed by June 1 so that council members can review it before they take a final vote on June 4.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.
