Stories

Stories >> Stories home >> Hey, hey, it's the munchies!

Hey, hey, it's the munchies!

Oshine the orangutan wasn't going to let anything get between her and sweeties...


Published by: Jessica Gibb
Published on: 23 February 2012

For 25 years, I'd lived and breathed monkeys and apes, and thought nothing could shock me about these beautiful animals. But staring at a picture of Oshine the orangutan, my heart broke. She had a hugely fat belly, which couldn't be the result of just too many bananas. Her background brought tears to my eyes, too.
After some investigating, I found out she'd probably been torn from her mother's arms as a baby in Indonesia, and then smuggled out of the country to be sold as a pet.
For the last 12 years, she'd lived in Johannesburg, South Africa, and had been treated like a human child. But now, Oshine was causing problems. ‘She's a handful,' her owner said to me on the phone.
‘She's more than that, she's morbidly obese!' I cried.
‘Umm, yeah... she does have a sweet tooth,' she cringed.
Oshine weighed almost 16st, more than double what she should weigh. This could lead to diabetes, blood clots, even heart disease.
‘Could you help her lose weight?' she begged.
‘Of course,' I said. My husband Jim had set up Monkey World, a rescue centre in Dorset, 25 years earlier to provide a home for abused Spanish chimpanzees. It had grown to help primates from all over the world, and
aid in the fight against illegal smuggling.
When Jim had died, aged 55, four years earlier, I'd vowed to continue his work and was now a director. But my work was going to be cut out with Oshine - we'd never had such
a tubby orang-utan before.
Me and my team flew out to collect her. She eyed me cautiously before plodding over, upright on her hind legs. She was huge!
Letting out a quiet grunt, she grabbed my arm. ‘Hello, Oshine,' I smiled. Her grip was like a vice, but her kind brown eyes reassured me she meant no harm.
As Oshine led me towards the house, I realised she was using me as a crutch to support her weight. It was uncomfortable for her to walk on all fours like a normal ape - her belly would drag on the ground! ‘What does she eat?' I asked her owner.
‘Lots of fruit and vegetables,' she started. ‘As well as biscuits, jelly and cake.'
‘Cake?!' I gasped.
But it seemed keeping Oshine away from sweet things was almost impossible...
The family said they'd often hear a crash and rush down to see her breaking out of her enclosure and bombing into the house - heading for the fridge. When she had a case of the munchies, nothing would stop her!
Pulling a bottle of cola out of the fridge, she unscrewed the top and took a large gulp. ‘Oh, Oshine,' I sighed. She let out a burp, then ate a bag of marshmallows.
She was so strong, it'd be dangerous to get between her and her favourite snack. Well, we've all felt possessive about a choccie bar at some point, haven't we!
A few days later, we flew her to England and got her settled at Monkey World.
It was time for some tough love. Stars went on detox boot camps - this would be the ape version of that.
‘No biscuits, sweets, cakes or jelly,' I said. She stared up at me. ‘That won't work,' I said. ‘You're going on our orangutan's O-diet of fruit and veg.' She didn't have time to pine for sugary foods, was too busy scaling a 60ft climbing frame, having a swinging time! After a few weeks, the pounds dropped off. She started to come out of her shell, and was interacting with other orangutans.
Osine had been there four months when a new arrival joined us - one-year-old Silvestre. She looked at him in the same way she once look at cakes, wandered over... She scooped the baby orangutan into her arms and stroked his head. Yep, she loved him even more than snacks. It brought tears to my eyes. ‘Mummy Oshine,' I smiled.
Now the two are inseparable. She carries him around on her front, and cares for him as if he was her own.
If she hadn't lost weight, it would be hard for her to keep up with him.
So far she's lost 4st, a quarter of her body weight, but still has another 3st or so to lose, but I'm sure she can do it. Now she has so much more than marshmallows to live for!
Alison Cronin, 45, Wareham, Dorset