When Big Papa first arrived at the BOS Foundation Samboja Lestari Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre medical tests revealed he had contracted Hepatitis B, meaning he had to be isolated from other orangutans and kept in his own enclosure. However, in 2010 a breakthrough in research showed that the strain of Hepatitis B that Big Papa had was naturally occurring in wild orangutan populations.

The BOS Foundation team were overjoyed to discover that he was no longer a health threat to other orangutans and after almost 30 years alone in a cage Big Papa is now enjoying life on a manmade island with three female companions.