Orangutan Raped For Seven Years

November 15, 2007 11:49 AM

Did the clients [at the brothel] realize that they were in fact getting an orangutan? “Oh yeah, they would come in especially for it. You could choose a human if you preferred, but it was a novelty for many of the men to have sex with an orangutan.” Via.
posted by jonson (110 comments total)

Bend over, Clyde.
posted by trondant at 11:51 AM on November 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

I hope this is BS.
posted by Falconetti at 11:52 AM on November 15, 2007

Oh what the fuck. Now you can't even screw an orangutan without everyone getting all up in arms?

This is such bullshit.
posted by kbanas at 11:53 AM on November 15, 2007 [9 favorites]

A novelty is buying a tie shaped like a fish, fucking one of the great apes is a whole other class of thing entirely.
posted by Divine_Wino at 11:54 AM on November 15, 2007 [15 favorites]

I understand that a fully grown orangutan is quite strong enough to rip your arms out of their sockets, and it saddens me that Pony wasn't wise to that.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 11:56 AM on November 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

Every Which Way But Doggy-Style
posted by InfidelZombie at 11:56 AM on November 15, 2007 [3 favorites]

it was a novelty for many of the men to have sex with an orangutan.

You know, the scariest thing in that article is the single word "many" in that sentence.
posted by rokusan at 11:57 AM on November 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

Where is Rambo when you need him?

I mean seriously?!?

Is raping the earth not strong enough a metaphor for ya?
posted by kuatto at 12:00 PM on November 15, 2007

I hate people.
posted by rtha at 12:04 PM on November 15, 2007

I'd hit that. Oh, wait that would be wrong.
posted by cjorgensen at 12:05 PM on November 15, 2007

It's not enough that they were banging an ape, it had to be a completely shaved ape? Wha...?
posted by maryh at 12:08 PM on November 15, 2007

How else are the orangutans going to pay for the land to live on?
posted by salvia at 12:13 PM on November 15, 2007

Countdown to NAMOLA in 5..4..3..
posted by tommasz at 12:14 PM on November 15, 2007

Is anyone else utterly disturbed that her name is Pony?
posted by bassjump at 12:16 PM on November 15, 2007

No it's funny, because I've actually got a pony named MONKEY WHORE.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 12:17 PM on November 15, 2007 [63 favorites]

Cecil Adams on chimp strength.
posted by futility closet at 12:21 PM on November 15, 2007

So that's what that tsunami was all about.

Way to go, God.
posted by Pecinpah at 12:21 PM on November 15, 2007 [6 favorites]

Tihs are not the pony I wants.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:22 PM on November 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

Poor thing — after seven years, I'd bet she's every which way including loose.
posted by rob511 at 12:23 PM on November 15, 2007

The Naked Ape.
posted by Floydd at 12:28 PM on November 15, 2007

Wow, there aren't a lot of times when I can say "I'd be happier not knowing about this, ignorance is bliss, etc," but this is one of them.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:28 PM on November 15, 2007

Honesty, I can read Vice every once in a while for the DOs and DON'Ts, but the rest of stories just depress the shit out of me.
posted by piratebowling at 12:28 PM on November 15, 2007

Let you whose groin hair is without red orang-utan hair cast the first stone.
posted by mistersquid at 12:29 PM on November 15, 2007

At what point do you take a hard look at your life and realize that you have made some serious wrong turns?

My first thought was: you are a madam for a prostituted orangutan. You should probably reassess your decisions and consider a lifestyle change. Perhaps suicide.

Then I thought about the clients, people who walk into a brothel and think "Mmmm, monkey. Gotta get me some of that"

I don't know what choices you might have made in your life that brought you to that point, but I seriously submit to you, that if you have reached a crossroads where paying to have sex with a shaved primate is something that sounds appealing, you are the problem. You should walk into the wild and never return.

I know an orangutan isn't a monkey, I liked the alliteration.
posted by quin at 12:31 PM on November 15, 2007 [5 favorites]

Yeah, (obviously I'm opposed to all this, but) the more I think about this -- as long as they're getting screwed anyway, animals really should be getting paid! From now on, all those cuddly otters will only appear in peep booths or pay-per-view TV shows. Zoos will have to pay per-diem rates, and the animals can send the money back to their families in the jungle. This is the wave of the future. "Hello, Nature Channel? Jerry Jaguar says he needs top billing and $2 million or he's not showing up. I don't want your film crew to have come all the way to the savanah for nothing..." How else are animals going to afford to lobby Washington about fishing policy, to sue polluters, to hire security guards against poachers, to buy homes? Who else wants to join my Animal Talent Agency?
posted by salvia at 12:31 PM on November 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

Floydd, I think The Human Zoo is more appropriate in this particular instance.
posted by cog_nate at 12:33 PM on November 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

slightly off-topic, but hey.

maybe NSFW. animal sex.
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:37 PM on November 15, 2007

Survey says: BZZZZZZT.

Hang this next to "monkeyfishing" in the Hoax Hall of Shame.
posted by sacre_bleu at 12:37 PM on November 15, 2007

That's disgusting. I limit myself to driving by the zoo and flashing the orangutans from my car. They seem to know it's a compliment.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:37 PM on November 15, 2007 [2 favorites]

Let you whose groin hair is without red orang-utan hair cast the first stone.

(chucks a couple rocks and turns back to female chimp)


Seriously though, this sucks. Really, really, all kinds of sucks on ice. Hearing the conditions just made me shudder.
posted by Samizdata at 12:39 PM on November 15, 2007

I'm just waiting for Rush Limbaugh to come back from Borneo with a suitcase full of bananas, Oxys and KY.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:40 PM on November 15, 2007 [7 favorites]

I hope this is BS.

Well, you can't have bestiality without it.
posted by Brak at 12:42 PM on November 15, 2007

Well, actually, I have a banana in my pocket because I’m glad to see you.
posted by bondcliff at 12:42 PM on November 15, 2007 [9 favorites]

The madam refused to give up the animal because everyone loved Pony and she was a big part of their income. They also thought Pony was lucky, as she would pick winning lottery numbers.

Right, so they chose to prostitute her, instead of have her pick the winning numbers, then reinvest all the winnings in the next lottery, and reinvest those until they eventually owned the entire world. What a stupid business plan they had.
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:43 PM on November 15, 2007

Sometimes it just feels like I'm living the comic book Preacher.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:43 PM on November 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

Come on ya libs out there, I thought liberals were all about tolerance and acceptance. You guys should be excited that people are experimenting with their sexuality. Your apparent distaste for this greatly distresses me.
posted by Autarky at 12:43 PM on November 15, 2007

Wang, dang, what a sweet orangutan
A-shakin' my thang as a rang-a-dang-dang in the bell
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:43 PM on November 15, 2007

This is a modern picture of Dorian Gray, a strong counterargument for 'you have to live, experience things, no regrets' -lifestyle. I cannot imagine anyone doing that for other reason than because you can -- because then you know you have done that too. Why it is worthwhile to have that experience too? It is worthy only if having lots and lots of experiences is value by itself. If you live for novel experiences, if you live long enough, you end up fucking an orangutang.
posted by Free word order! at 12:46 PM on November 15, 2007 [6 favorites]

Well, ick.
posted by EatTheWeak at 12:55 PM on November 15, 2007

So that's what that tsunami was all about.

This is the same baseless argument that Falwell was making that 9/11 happened as a punishment for gays in this country. Consider the impact the tsunami had before posting such a nonsensical claim.
posted by spiderskull at 12:59 PM on November 15, 2007

Humour... generator... failing...

Must... reject... knowledge...
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:00 PM on November 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

This is the same baseless argument that Falwell was making that 9/11 happened as a punishment for gays in this country. Consider the impact the tsunami had before posting such a nonsensical claim.

Yes, Metafilter is a place for good family fun and kind-hearting ribbing.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:03 PM on November 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

“Say, I had an ostrich burger the other day”
“Oh yeah? Well, I fucked an orangutan.”

You know, I respect true pacifists. I respect the fact they deeply value the sanctity of life and choose to embody those values and doing no harm. But sometimes it does take a whole platoon of men armed with assault rifles to straighten some people the fuck out. Seven years, JFC.

“If you live for novel experiences, if you live long enough, you end up fucking an orangutang.”

Or opening a very malevolent chinese puzzle box.
posted by Smedleyman at 1:03 PM on November 15, 2007 [9 favorites]

It feels good to know that, no matter how screwed up I think I am sometimes, I'd never even considered this before.
posted by stinkycheese at 1:07 PM on November 15, 2007 [2 favorites]

Unfortunately, this seems to not be BS.

Here's a QuantumShift video about Dayak (aboriginal) women being recruited to help as surrogate mothers for orphaned baby orangs. In the course of the video, the narrator mentions female orangs being used in brothels for prostitution, which generated some incredulous comments.

Scroll down in the comments to Aug. 16 to see where user Bos-uk posted a comment as follows:

The orangutan rescued by the Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation that was used in a brothel is names Pony. She was chained to a wall and offered to men for the equivalent of a few dollars. Now a few years since her rescue, she has become a healthy and happy orangutan living on one of the Nyaru Menteng Project's islands. Here she enjoys an almost wild existence with free range of the large island, and one day she will be released to the wild.
BOS could not have rescued Pony and provided her a decent future if it weren't for the generosity of supporters around the world.
Please visit the BOS site in your country or the BOS International site, find out more, and lend your support. Orangutans depend upon BOS for their continued survival in the wild.
Michelle Desilets
Director
Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation UK

Michelle Desilets is identified elsewhere as the Director of this foundation, in addition to the linked article.
posted by yhbc at 1:15 PM on November 15, 2007

Everyone knows you can't have rape without ape.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:20 PM on November 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

Human depravity knows no bounds.

As an aside - orangutan behaviour/society is pretty rough. We were taught at uni that 80% of orangutan copulations in the wild are forced by the male. [Just tried unsuccessfully to find a reference to this on the web, and my lecture notes are buried in a box in the loft]
posted by algreer at 1:23 PM on November 15, 2007

.
posted by exlotuseater at 1:26 PM on November 15, 2007

I think I've just discovered a legitimate use for waterboarding
posted by edgeways at 1:28 PM on November 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

algreer, having just taken Evolutionary anthropology that sounds about right.
posted by edgeways at 1:29 PM on November 15, 2007

Thanks, yhbc.
posted by everichon at 1:30 PM on November 15, 2007

Found the news footage of Pony's rescue. It starts at about 12:50 in: Youtube
posted by schleppo at 1:31 PM on November 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

Michelle Desilets is identified elsewhere as the Director of this foundation, in addition to the linked article.

Fuck heroes, make a tv show about HER life.
posted by shmegegge at 1:35 PM on November 15, 2007

Apes and humans have common ancestors but should they have the same rights? An international movement to give them "personhood" is gathering pace.
posted by salvia at 1:37 PM on November 15, 2007

yeah, well I've got a vampire altar boy in a cage.
posted by nomisxid at 1:40 PM on November 15, 2007

why does everyone get all uppity about this and not forced prostitution of human beings? i suppose it is novel.
posted by mr_book at 1:47 PM on November 15, 2007 [2 favorites]

It's not enough that they were banging an ape, it had to be a completely shaved ape?

So that picture on the right of the page of the thing in the glasses and brown jacket? Is that the Orang Utan after he's been shaved? Oh no, it was a female ape, amirite?

In that case, personally, I think this brothel had the wrong plan. They should be hiring male Orang Utan's. The business that they'd do from wanabee female primatologists would be immense.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:50 PM on November 15, 2007

It's here that we learn about the leech pond. Leeches gorged with blood apparently are a Chinese delicacy. So a pond is filled with the creatures and three prostitutes are forced into it until the leeches are gorged. Then the women are removed and the insects farmed. Domestic animals are too valuable to use in the pond.

Thought you had outrage fatigue? Here's the cure.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 1:51 PM on November 15, 2007 [7 favorites]

OOK? The Librarian is NOT amused.
posted by Biblio at 1:53 PM on November 15, 2007 [7 favorites]

why does everyone get all uppity about this and not forced prostitution of human beings? i suppose it is novel.

Hurts more to think about forced prostitution of humans.
posted by LordSludge at 1:58 PM on November 15, 2007

why does everyone get all uppity about this and not forced prostitution of human beings?

This recent comment by Arturus is an appropriate response here as well.
posted by yhbc at 2:06 PM on November 15, 2007

why does everyone get all uppity about this and not forced prostitution of human beings?

people don't get uppity about the forced prostitution of human beings? huh. i totally thought they did.
posted by shmegegge at 2:07 PM on November 15, 2007

At least I let my bonobo pals fuck me sometimes.
posted by breezeway at 2:08 PM on November 15, 2007

Always in the wrong place at the wrong time. Without a weapon.
posted by dreamsign at 2:16 PM on November 15, 2007

whatever little faith i had left in mankind is now totally erased.

ewwww. just ewww.
posted by desolepas at 2:21 PM on November 15, 2007

"There is no law enforcement in Indonesia so these people didn’t face any sentence or anything for what they had done."

lol wut
posted by brownpau at 2:28 PM on November 15, 2007

All of a sudden this takes on a whole new meaning.
posted by felix betachat at 2:35 PM on November 15, 2007

Okay, that's it, humanity has to go. Come on bird flu pandemic.
posted by homunculus at 2:38 PM on November 15, 2007

Shaving the orangutan isn't really fooling anyone.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:43 PM on November 15, 2007 [2 favorites]

You see this? This is how people get superAIDS.
posted by tehloki at 2:58 PM on November 15, 2007 [2 favorites]

Dr. Zaius was right.

And obviously afraid Charlton Heston was gonna try to fuck him.
posted by tkchrist at 3:16 PM on November 15, 2007 [3 favorites]

Somewhere out there, an orangutan is hanging its head in shame at the behavior of its supposedly "evolved" cousins.

Gorillas and chimps are probably pretty ashamed of us by now, too.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 3:22 PM on November 15, 2007

Or just regular AIDS
posted by hellphish at 3:24 PM on November 15, 2007

Gorillas and chimps are probably pretty ashamed of us by now, too.

Bonobos, on the other hand, know exactly where we're coming from.
posted by felix betachat at 3:30 PM on November 15, 2007

If there's any cosmic justice, all the men who raped this ape will die from some grizzly disease they picked up from the sex.

And that madam too.
posted by Red58 at 3:31 PM on November 15, 2007

Asked the Santa in Borneo's toni-
Est mall, "What's on your list, a new Sony
Or a Barbie, my dear?"
Said the lass with a sneer,
"Refill blades and a My Little Pony!"
posted by rob511 at 3:32 PM on November 15, 2007

I wonder how all the human prostitutes felt when an army of police men showed up to rescue someone from that hellish life... and chose the orangutan.
posted by 517 at 3:41 PM on November 15, 2007 [5 favorites]

i_am_joe's_spleen: I understand that a fully grown orangutan is quite strong enough to rip your arms out of their sockets, and it saddens me that Pony wasn't wise to that.


It says in the second paragraph that Pony was chained to a wall....
posted by Lillitatiana at 3:43 PM on November 15, 2007

“why does everyone get all uppity about this and not forced prostitution of human beings?”

Many folks do. Certainly familiarity breeds a certain degree of contempt or complacency. But in some respects there’s an expectation - and not necessarily warranted - that a human being will make their own choices. But even so, animals are so powerless by contrast to nearly any human that it is indeed a shock that someone would so callously take advantage of one.
And to find that perspective - the perspective of someone who would go to rape an animal - more common is a bit shocking. By contrast we expect to be shocked by human slavery or child prostitutes and the like. We’re shocked by the act of course, but the revelation of something like this is akin to a revelation that our next door neighbor travels to Burma or wherever as a sex tourist and has sex with children. We know it’s out there, we know people do it, but it’s more of a shock to find closer to home even though it’s still an affront.
This, I think, gets that same first blush shock we no longer get from the depravities we expect.
‘People trap, shave, train and force an animal to debase itself and other humans in such a way? WTF?’
And then on to the other more common reactions we have for any abusive exploitation.
But it seems bigger because of that first blush, that initial shock of human depravity in a form we hadn’t really expected.
And indeed, in an organized form. People have sex with horses, dogs, what have you, bit of a shock that it’s organized and people are making money off of it. The venom we have for such people might be less than we’d have for those who traffic in children, but it gets a bit more attention because of the novelty of the idea. And of course, the relief of at least some ridicule that isn’t at all possible with some of the deeper or closer to home horrors.
posted by Smedleyman at 4:04 PM on November 15, 2007

Thought you had outrage fatigue? Here's the cure.

Pffft. Eating blood-gorged leeches? You'll believe anything those Chinese medicine quacks tell you.
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:11 PM on November 15, 2007

This all started with that dude from Trading Places getting revenge.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:20 PM on November 15, 2007

If there's any cosmic justice, all the men who raped this ape will die from some grizzly disease they picked up from the sex.

"Grizzly disease?" Are you thinking of Super Troopers? [NSFW]
posted by kirkaracha at 4:26 PM on November 15, 2007

Adopt an Orangutan at the Borneo Orangutan Survival website.
posted by meehawl at 5:26 PM on November 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

And here I thought Man had Dominion over All Animals.
What's the big deal?
posted by Balisong at 6:22 PM on November 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

This makes me sad. Very sad.
posted by ramix at 6:39 PM on November 15, 2007

Frank Zappa was allegedly once on Tonight show discussing theories about the origin of AIDS. The monkey connection was broached and Frank said "I'd like to know who's plunking the monkeys."

Don't even ask Frank. It's a small jump from ape to monkey.
posted by ersatz at 6:44 PM on November 15, 2007

I don't think this is what Rufus Thomas had in mind when he sang "Can Your Monkey Do the Dog?"
posted by kirkaracha at 6:58 PM on November 15, 2007

Fucking monkeys.
posted by digiFramph at 7:11 PM on November 15, 2007

why does everyone get all uppity about this and not forced prostitution of human beings?

we don't like furries
posted by pyramid termite at 7:15 PM on November 15, 2007 [2 favorites]

Don't even ask Frank.

Why not ask him? He seems a funny enough guy, and probably better suited to the show's audience than an expert in primate epidemiology.
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:21 PM on November 15, 2007

why does everyone get all uppity about this and not forced prostitution of human beings? i suppose it is novel.

They Do. A couple articles from the Kid's Issue of Vice.
FYI - They say the second link is "probably the harshest thing we’ve ever published".
posted by ChestnutMonkey at 7:46 PM on November 15, 2007

All those posts on underexposed World War II stories. All the quick posts on things I stumbled across on the web which I thought might give someone a smile, or garner some interesting discussion. That simple crappy google dump I did on deep sea creatures that people somehow seem to find over and over again. All the researched, re-researched, and overeagerly linked write-ups about social issues in Europe. All of those songs. The longboat annals. All the drive-by stolen-from-popurls single-link flavour-of-the-day posts that always seem be met with either gushing lovefests or furious disapproval. The elaborate in-jokey comments I wrote when I just joined Metafilter out of a naive desire to demonstrate how "hip to the cabal" I was. Even that Europanto post, one of the few posts I made that I actually still like.

All overtaken by a blue, throwaway element-reversal joke about a prostitute primate.

Thanks, Metafilter.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:38 PM on November 15, 2007 [2 favorites]

If there's any cosmic justice, all the men who raped this ape will die from some grizzly disease they picked up from the sex.


I think you're getting your stories confused.
posted by scalefree at 8:43 PM on November 15, 2007

why does everyone get all uppity about this and not forced prostitution of human beings?

Me? I get throughly, machete sharpening uppity about the forced prostitution of human beings. Other than that, what Smedleyman said.
posted by Divine_Wino at 9:20 PM on November 15, 2007

Just to clear this up once and for all: Monkeys have tails, apes do not have tails, and humans are horrible.
posted by Reggie Digest at 10:15 PM on November 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

This is disgusting.

Oh, and for those of us* who managed to pull a joke or two out of this horrifying story of vile abuse and degradation:

I sincerely hope something like this happens to you. If this planet is invaded by 'superior' beings tomorrow I hope they hunt your asses down, chain you to the walls of your cells, and teach you to start humpin' as soon as a potential customer approaches with an erect tentacle and a valid form of currency. You callous shitwads.

*Yeah, I'm one of us. But I'm not one of YOU.
posted by mountain_william at 1:12 AM on November 16, 2007 [2 favorites]

I think I need to Lysol my brain. What a horrible story.
posted by dasheekeejones at 3:59 AM on November 16, 2007

mountain_william, I'd rather make a joke in the face of something horrible than wish something horrible on someone for doing so. So get a sense of humor, and look into the mirror to see a callous shitwad, you callous shitwad. Nice attempt at moral superiority. Too bad you failed. Welcome to humanity.
posted by cjorgensen at 5:45 AM on November 16, 2007

Why not ask him? He seems a funny enough guy, and probably better suited to the show's audience than an expert in primate epidemiology.

Oops, I meant to write "Don't even ask, Frank". The lack of sleep shows.
posted by ersatz at 6:36 AM on November 16, 2007

Oh you will cook and eat the animal, but you draw the line at sex?

I'll take the monkey lover over you sick bastards any day.
posted by ewkpates at 6:38 AM on November 16, 2007 [2 favorites]

You callous shitwads.

You know, as I started reading this post I was prepared to react the way you did, with righteous indignation at anybody who cracked a joke at the poor animal's expense. But as I read the jokes I found myself smiling & then laughing along with everybody else, even as I winced at my own reaction. We're not laughing at the orangutan, we're laughing at ourselves & each other. Heinlein had it pegged¹, humor is a reaction to pain.

¹Stranger in a Strange Land
posted by scalefree at 8:00 AM on November 16, 2007

yhbc: Here I was, wondering why that comment suddenly got 10 new favorites over the course of last night. Now I see it was all your fault.

Also, what everyone else said about this story. Ugh.
posted by Arturus at 8:51 AM on November 16, 2007

Rape an Ape
posted by snoktruix at 1:20 PM on November 16, 2007

Oh you will cook and eat the animal, but you draw the line at sex?

I'll take the monkey lover over you sick bastards any day.

I think most people in this thread would be equally up in arms about someone cooking and eating an orangutan. It's like this: You look the other way while we eat the occasional pig, and we'll gladly look away while you fuck one every now and then; orangutans are off the menu for everyone.
posted by Reggie Digest at 1:31 PM on November 16, 2007

Also, for me at least, it's less the having sex with the animal and more the whole chained to the wall, shaved with horrible skin conditions, conditioned to offer itself for sex whenever someone is around. Take an animal, treat it well, have sex with it from time to time, I don't care, or more accurately, there's a debate to be had there.

This is animal cruelty any way you slice it. The sex is just a part of that which provokes a visceral reaction.
posted by Arturus at 4:34 PM on November 16, 2007

What scalefree said. I see where you're coming from, mountain_william, but we're just whistling past the graveyard.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:35 PM on November 16, 2007

What if the person is married to the animal and they live happily ever after?

I'm just saying. . .
posted by j-urb at 8:52 PM on November 16, 2007

The world is a strange place.
posted by BBWgirl at 10:28 PM on November 16, 2007

Apes and humans have common ancestors but should they have the same rights?

All living things share a common ancestor.
posted by delmoi at 10:34 PM on November 16, 2007

All living things share a common ancestor.

And, soon, a common descendent.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:56 PM on November 16, 2007