Chained to a bed, shaved every day and forced to have sex with men, this is how an orangutan from Kereng Pangi, Indonesia lived for years. The primate, named Pony, was captured and “treated like a prostitute” by his captor.

Customers came and for a couple of coins they could sexually abuse the orangutan. They were mostly agricultural laborers who, coming from the surrounding countryside, asked for the company of ponies. Although there were also sexually enslaved women in that place, the men preferred the animal.

Pony was separated from her mother at birth and, being a very large animal, I’ve always been chained in the brothel. Several women were in charge of its care, as the animal was afraid of men.

The abuse went on for years until she was finally released in 2005. Members of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, who managed her rescue, discovered that Pony’s body had been shaved and was covered in painful bite marks, chained to a bed and subjected to constant rape.

The orangutan had painted lips. She was a prostitute. She was raped every day in an Indonesian village. More than 15 years have passed since his rescue. A turning point. It took the intervention of the armed forces to free her. Her owner objected because it was her livelihood. Even the city where he was, because they said it brought him luck. She was about seven when she was rescued. The equivalent – considering that they live on average 50 years – of being between 13 and 14 years old.

“Nobody knew how long Pony had been there. The hostess flatly refused to give up the orangutan. To her it was an ATM and a source of luck. It was not easy to free Pony from this terrible place; anyone who tried to do so has faced an army of local residents armed with knives, ready to fight for the owner of the house, “recall from the organization that acted, The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS), according to Spanish media. “His body was covered in mosquito bites. He couldn’t stop scratching and his skin had several infections.”. She had suffered all her life.

She was released in 2005 in an animal sanctuary on a smaller island in a rehabilitation plan, that of Bangamat. But it was a total failure. Unfortunately, she wasn’t ready for this late stage of the learning process. Pony wasn’t used to trees. She preferred to stay on the ground. When she was hungry, she waited for the technicians to give her food without having to try to feed herself. Unlike other orangutans, she has never explored the island. Her journey was limited to crossing a small river between the islands to go to the technicians’ camp and ask for food. She had to go back to the shelter. To keep adapting. They decided to go slower. The prostitute orangutan needed time.

Currently, Pony lives in the Bos Foundation, located in Borneo, an island in Asia, and is already around 15 years old. But acquiring a new lifestyle was not easy for her, as the animal abuse she was subjected to left traces of her. “In the shelter, when a man approached, he went into a corner and urinated on himself. He was terrified of them,” said Karmale, president of the NGO International Animal Rescue, according to El Mundo.

He also had physical injuries. Her fur was slow to grow, having been shaved almost every day. Also, because her body was not naturally protected, she had mosquito bites and many skin lesions.

Although they stress that she can never be released and reinstated in her habitat due to the tender age in which she was separated from her mother, Pony is completely healthy and has acquired a lifestyle similar to that of other orangutans that are cared for in captivity. In addition, the island of Borneo remembers her natural habitat and she lives together with other animals of the same species.

“I met Pony shortly after she was rescued. Her resilience is amazing. Despite the trauma, she retained a dignity and a sense of humor. She had the best personality and learned to trust very quickly, despite what she had. past, “said former teacher Michelle Desilets who began working as a volunteer to care for orphaned orangutans in Borneo in 1994, according to La República.

Around 1,000 orangutans in Indonesia are believed to be killed each year so that their babies can be sold on the black market. For every baby orangutan sold, at least four more are believed to die.