Orangutan has an ally at City Hall
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Rusti the orangutan gazed through the fence of his cage at the Honolulu Zoo toward a cleared field that will become his new half-million-dollar pad as city officials yesterday praised the people who donated the money to make it possible.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
Mayor Mufi Hannemann visited the city zoo to call attention to the construction that begins next week on the new quarters for one of the zoo's most celebrated residents. The new habitat will give Rusti a living area 20 times bigger than what he has now, he said.
Mayor Mufi Hannemann offers a lei to Rusti during a visit to his cage at the Honolulu Zoo. Construction starts soon on Rusti's new habitat.
That's a pretty big housing upgrade for a 25-year-old orangutan who came to Honolulu in 1997 seeking better living conditions and was expected to live in the 600-square-foot cage at the zoo for only about six months.
Rusti, owned by the Los Angeles-based Orangutan Foundation International, was moved to Hawai'i after the foundation removed him from what they considered unacceptable conditions at a private New Jersey zoo. As the years passed, a number of plans for a larger, permanent home fell apart, including proposals to move him to the Big Island or to Kualoa Ranch in Windward O'ahu.
Hannemann also announced yesterday that a new working group will convene in two weeks to try to build a private-public partnership that will help boost the popular Waikiki attraction at a time when the city is scaling back to core services in many areas.
Hannemann said Rusti's new 7,500-square-foot home will be a big improvement. "He'll have a two-bedroom pad," the mayor said, as well as a day room and a big yard complete with banyan tree and an ocean breeze.
Zoo director Ken Redman said plans are moving forward to bring in a female playmate for Rusti from the San Diego Zoo in time for the move to the new place. Redman explained that the move will be for companionship rather than breeding because Rusti, a half-Sumatran, half-Bornean orangutan, has been neutered.
Redman said the donations came from the Chelsey Foundation, the Orangutan Foundation International and Rose Helen Vincent, whose estate gave $100,000.
He said the new orangutan exhibit is expected to be finished before the zoo goes for accreditation in November, something that should help the facility shine and please Rusti's many visitors.
"Everybody loves Rusti. Everybody knows Rusti," Redman said. "He's got a huge fan club."
Hannemann knows that city officials have been talking about public-private partnerships to improve the zoo for decades without discernible success.
He said that making it a priority of his administration may help make a difference this time.
"I don't think the commitment was there to resolve it," he said.
Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.
