STAR-BULLETIN A female companion for Rusti the orangutan will not be available soon, says Honolulu Zoo Director Ken Redman.

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No female for Rusti
as new home nears finish

The zoo enclosure is expected
to be ready in October; the search
for a mate continues

Rusti the orangutan's much-awaited new home at the Honolulu Zoo could be ready by mid-October, but he will be living there as a bachelor, at least for the time being.

Dinner fund-raiser "An Evening for Rusti and Friends" is a $150-a-plate fund-raiser and silent auction Oct. 15 at the Honolulu Zoo, to finish paying for the orangutan's new home. The event's Indonesian theme refers to Rusti's ancestral homelands of Borneo and Sumatra. For information or tickets, see www.honoluluzoo.org or call Barbara Thacker at 926-3191, ext. 11.

The zoo is still searching for an appropriate female companion for Rusti, but it has become clear that a new orangutan will not be available any time soon, said zoo Director Ken Redman.

In May, zoo officials said they hoped a female companion for Rusti might move into the 8,168-square-foot enclosure, which is being built around a banyan tree.

Reedesign Builders Inc. is the contractor for the enclosure, which consists of two sleeping rooms and a day room. The upgrade is more than 20 times larger than the old-style cage that Rusti has lived in since "temporarily" coming to the zoo in 1997.

A potential orangutan companion at the San Diego Zoo, named Violet, had been under consideration as Rusti's companion, but that match was only if things did not work out for her to go to the Birmingham Zoo, Redman said. It turns out she is going to Alabama, he said.

Both Bornean and Sumatran orangutans are endangered species, so any mating of captive animals is regulated. Because Rusti is a hybrid of the two species, he has been neutered and will not have offspring. However, experts believe that he will get along better with a female roommate.

"We have our fishing lines out there" for a companion, Redman said.

Rusti, now 25 years old, was rescued from a New Jersey roadside zoo by his owner, Orangutan Foundation International. The nonprofit organization's plans for a permanent home for Rusti have fallen through several times. Finally, in 2004, then-Mayor Jeremy Harris pledged that Honolulu would keep Rusti permanently.

The roomy $665,000 enclosure being built at the zoo was designed with space for two orangutans. The project cost has been divided between Orangutan Foundation International, the Honolulu Zoo Society and members, the city and other private donors.

Mark Bogart, vice president of the zoo society, said he was "very optimistic" that Rusti's home will be ready for occupancy in time for an Oct. 15 event at the zoo to raise $100,000 to pay it off.

"Things are really moving pretty smoothly," he said.

However, Redman cautioned that construction timetables can be unpredictable. He also noted that Rusti will not be available for public viewing until he adjusts to his new quarters, a process that could take days or weeks.