Cheyenne the Orangutan (c.1972-2025)

Cheyenne, a 52-year-old orangutan, died at the Houston Zoo in February 2025. She died following complications from a severe kidney infection.

Orangutans are critically endangered due to habitat destruction from palm oil and human development, as well as capture for the pet trade. “Critically endangered” is the last step before a species becomes extinct. As buildings and roads extend further into orangutans' habitats, fragmentation strands groups of orangutans in areas too small to sustain them, and over time, their gene pool is weakened. Orangutans once lived across Southeast Asia but are now only found on the Islands of Sumatra and Borneo.

Captive populations of orangutans are maintained so zoos can continue to sell tickets and display them. Though breeding orangutans in captivity might seem like a solution to extinction, no orangutan born in a US or European zoo will ever be returned to the wild. A zoo environment is drastically different from what an orangutan would experience in the wild.

Orangutans held in captivity do not have the survival or social skills to survive independently. In the wild, an orangutan would spend their first years with their mother, learning to build nests, forage for food, and how to socialize with other orangutans.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has noted in its guidelines for reintroducing great apes that releasing even wild-born infant orangutans who have not lived in the wild with their mothers for at least a year is extremely challenging. There are also concerns that orangutans in captivity would not be immune to some diseases and may be vulnerable to poachers because they are habituated to humans. The only way to prevent the extinction of orangutans is to protect their habitat.

World Animal Protection urges everyone who loves orangutans to avoid zoos and enjoy them in the wild or at an accredited sanctuary.