13/04/2026
Have you ever heard of the darkest chapter of prostitution in Indonesia?
Its victim wasn't human, but an orangutan named Pony.
> Born around 1996, Pony was taken from her mother when she was still a baby and ended up enslaved in a brothel in Kereng Pangi Village, Central Kalimantan.
> Tragically, she was forced into s*x work to satisfy the lust of local palm oil workers, at an extremely low rate of just around Rp35,000 to Rp38,000 per session.
> As the "main star," Pony was forced to serve many customers multiple times a day without respite, making her the brothel owner's biggest money-making machine.
> Pony was chained to a filthy mattress, and all her fur was shaved off every two days to expose her skin, leaving her covered in infected wounds and mosquito bites.
> She was made to wear lipstick, perfume, jewelry, and cruelly trained to flirt; her body would reflexively sway her hips every time a man passed by her room.
> Ironically, because she was seen as exotic (a novelty), Pony was far more popular and often chosen by customers over the human female s*x workers in the same place.
> Her rescue in February 2003 was highly dramatic; BOSF and the authorities had to deploy 35 armed personnel because the brothel owner fiercely resisted to protect their "talisman."
> Now, Pony has successfully regained her natural instincts and lives freely in the wild habitat of Borneo, serving as a living witness to the grim exploitation of wildlife and a symbol of conservation success.
~ Omolola Anthonia