Orangutan Foundation International - History

History

The Orangutan Foundation International was founded in 1986 by Dr. Birute Galdikas. The precursor to the OFI was the Orangutan Research and Conservation Project (ORCP), founded in 1971 by Galdikas with the help of Louis Leakey as moral and financial support. While working toward her Ph.D at UCLA, Dr. Galdikas went to see Leakey who was a guest speaker at the school. During the presentation Galdikas learned that Leakey had sponsored both Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey who also worked with primates and decided to ask him to sponsor her as well. Leakey agreed, and Galdikas, Goodall, and Fossey became Leakey's Angels. In honor of Leakey, Galdikas' named the base camp Camp Leakey. The first work of the ORCP was taking orangutans that were being kept as pets from government officials and others. The formation of the ORCP gave Dr. Galdikas the opportunity to conduct 100,000 hours of observation of orangutans. In 1986, the ORCP morphed in the OFI. The new insight from Galdikas' research with the Asian Ape (orangutan) drew a lot of media attention. Galdikas' found that she needed something to turn the attention into positive action and created the OFI. The OFI's goals were a little bit different from its mother. The OFI is "aimed specifically at conservation, rehabilitation, research, and education". Lawyer John Beal visited Camp Leakey in 1979 and after his return to the United States, aided Galdikas' and others in the establishment of The Orangutan Foundation in Los Angeles, California which is headquarters for the OFI