SIR: Your readers may have seen the BBC documentary, Di-Di's Story, shown over the Easter Weekend, about an orang-utan pet who was returned to the forest in Borneo. The farewell scenes between this beautiful animal and her loving owner, who had brought Di-Di up as her child in Taiwan, were very moving.

Sadly, however, not all rescued orang-utans at the Wanariset Reintroduction Centre in Borneo had been so well treated. Many, like Di-Di, had been smuggled abroad to be sold as exotic pets. However, unlike Di-Di, many are abandoned when they grow too big. Thousands more of these endangered animals, whose mothers are slaughtered for food, are captured by hunters and kept chained, or in tiny cages, in villages in Borneo.

The Centre has rescued more than 100 orang-utans so far and has already released some 60 into the forest reserve. The World Society for the Protection of Animals has just launched an appeal for the Centre, which must expand if further releases are to take place. The long and difficult process of rehabitation is also expensive in money and time. If your readers would like to give other orang-utans a chance of freedom, they can send donations to: WSPA Dept PE18, Freepost, Northampton, NN3 1BR. We will send everyone a full colour information leaflet about orang-utans. Thank you.

Hilary Cross, WSPA Press Officer,

2, Langley Lane,

London SW8.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.