Orangutans escape blind thanks to surgery

A blind orangutan in Indonesia saw two children for the first time after eye surgeons gave it.

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Gober Orangutan and its two children. (Photo: AP)

Gober, the name of the 40-year-old Sumatran orangutan, used to live in a wild environment in North Sumatra province. It lost its ability to look at the end of 2008 due to cataracts. So conservationists decided to take it back to raise it to ensure its safety. Thanks to the breeding efforts of experts, Gober gave birth to two children in 2011.

The doctors of the Sumatra Orangutan Conservation Program in Medan City, the administrative center of North Sumatra province, performed eye surgery for Gober. They announced the successful surgery on August 29, the AP reported.

This is the first time eye surgeons for orangutans in Indonesia. The world's first orangutan eye surgery took place in Malaysia in 2007.

Sumatran orangutan is one of the highly endangered animals. Conservationists say only about 6,600 Sumatra orangutans exist in the wild.