A photographer who documented animal cruelty worldwide has recounted the rescue of an orangutan that spent 14 years chained to a veranda in Borneo. Roger Allen, a former Mirror photographer for 25 years, discovered Mely the female orangutan in the village of Tengulli, where she was kept as a neglected family pet after her mother was killed.
Allen described how Mely, sitting in her own filth, reached out and held his hand. 'Her palm was hard and rough. She didn’t squeeze my hand but held it gently, all the while looking me straight in the eye,' he writes in his new book, How to Rescue a Tiger and Other Animals. The encounter left him speechless, wondering how she 'still had the capacity to express need and tenderness'.
The photographs Allen took of Mely were published in the Mirror in 2009 and sparked public outrage. Within three weeks, the Indonesian government intervened. Mely, whose muscles had wasted from captivity, was moved to a sanctuary run by International Animal Rescue (IAR) in Ketapang. The rescue prompted a surge in donations, funding a new orangutan centre with 27 hectares of rainforest, an on-site hospital, and sleeping quarters.
An IAR report from October 2010 noted Mely was adjusting well, showing interest in food and trying fruits for the first time. It added that she had never seen another orangutan since losing her mother, so rehabilitation would require patience. Allen expressed hope that his work had made a difference, saying the connection they shared when holding hands was 'even more significant'.
