Tangan Michele terasa dingin ketika saya menyentuhnya pertama kali. Tangan kecil itu menjulur meminta digendong. Ketika saya menggendongnya pertama kali, ia mencengkeram erat baju saya, seolah tak mau melepaskan. Seolah takut untuk ditinggalkan.
Layaknya bayi manusia, bayi orangutan pun membutuhkan kasih sayang seorang ibu. Seharusnya, sejak lahir hingga berusia 6-7 tahun, bayi orangutan terus bersama ibunya dan tidak pernah lepas dari keberadaan sang ibu. Michele adalah bayi orangutan betina berusia sekitar 5 bulan yang ada di Kebun Raya Universitas Mulawarman Samarinda (KRUS). Di usianya yang masih sangat belia itu, Michele harus terpisah dari ibunya.
Michele diserahkan oleh salah seorang warga desa Tanah Merah, Lempake, Samarinda ke KRUS pada 23 Juli 2011. Ia ditemukan di sebuah ladang milik warga tersebut. Sejak saat itu, Michele harus berjuang hidup seorang diri tanpa ibunya. Pada awal kehidupan barunya di KRUS, ia sempat demam. Namun berangsur-angsur membaik karena dirawat oleh banyak orang; para sukarelawan dan para perawat satwa KRUS. Michele pun tidak sendirian lagi.
Sekarang, ibu asuh Michele bertambah satu lagi sejak saya berada di KRUS. Menyentuh Michele pertama kali, langsung membuat saya jatuh cinta. Tangan dingin Michele saya genggam supaya hangat. Ia pun tersenyum seolah berada di tempat yang aman dan nyaman. Ketika ia mulai mengantuk, saya taruh di tempat tidurnya, maka ia akan menangis histeris.
Tampak bahwa bayi sekecil itu sangat takut ditinggalkan. Dan Michele, tidak seharusnya mengalami ketakutan seperti itu jika ia berada dalam pelukan ibunya. Melihatnya menangis meraung-raung untuk dipeluk, saya tidak tega. Saya pun menggendongnya kembali.
“Dek Icel, Dek Icel, jangan nangis, ada Mommy di sini,” kata saya sambil menatap matanya. Michele pun langsung terdiam dan tersenyum ketika berada dalam gendongan saya. Ia tahu, bahwa ia sudah aman.
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First Contact with Michele
When I embraced Michele’s hands for the first time, her hands were cold. She opened her tiny arms widely, asking to be carried. Then I was carrying her for my first time, and she grabbed my shirt tightly, as if she did not want me to let go. As if, she was afraid to be abandoned.
Like a human baby, orangutan baby needs its mother’s love. Supposedly, young orangutans are nourished from their mothers at about 6-7 years of age, and orangutan baby never be separated from the mother. Michele is five month-old female orangutan which lives in the Botanical Garden of Mulawarman University Samarinda (KRUS). But, at her very young age, Michele must be separated from her mother.
A villager of Tanah Merah, Lempake, Samarinda, East Kalimantan, had given Michele into KRUS’ care on 23 July 2011. She was found in a field belonging to the villager. Since then, Michele had to live alone without her mother. In her new beginning life at KRUS, she had a fever. But she recovered from her fever quickly because she was taken care by many people at KRUS; the volunteers and the animal keepers. And Michele is not alone anymore.
When I arrived at KRUS, Michele has one other mother, that is me. I fell in love with Michele when I touched her at my first time. I embraced her warmly. She was smiling at me as if she was in a secure and comfortable place. When she was getting sleepy, I put her on her basket that used as bed, then she would cry hysterically.
I could see that the tiny baby was afraid to be abandoned. And Michele, should not have such fear expression if she was in her mother’s arms. I felt pity on her, when I saw her began to bawl to be cuddled. Then, I carried her in my arms.
“Please don’t cry baby Icel, Mommy is here,” I said to her and looked into her eyes. Then Michele stopped to cry. She was smiling. Now, she knows that she is safe.
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