orangutan rescue efforts

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends of the Orangutan,

Here is some disturbing news from the field. Please be warned that the message

and photo are very distressing and if you are of a sensitive nature, you may

wish to not view this message.

Michelle

 

RESCUES IN CENTRAL KALIMANTAN

 

 

 

That their efforts are not always successful, even though they do their very

best, the rescue team of Nyaru Menteng had to face the hard way. Unfortunately,

for the male orangutan, they came too late.

 

 

 

The Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rehabilitation Project is already familiar with the

Parenggean Area. In this area, in Central Kalimantan, where a very big company

with palm oil plantations at several places in Indonesia has established a Palm

Oil Plantation of 14.000 ha, still lives a small population of wild orangutans.

This wild population is in great danger; their habitat is disappearing rapidly.

 

 

 

The Nyaru Menteng Project sends a rescue team to the area to save the wild

orangutans on regular basis. Sometimes the employees of the Palm Oil plantation

contact the Nyaru Menteng project themselves to inform the project that there

are orangutans observed that need to be rescued. Very often the rescues are

successful, but sometimes the rescue team comes too late.

 

 

 

It had already been for a few days that the people of a small village in that

area had seen this male orangutan. The orangutan, an adult with cheek pads,

wandered around the village. He wasn’t a direct threat to the people so they let

him, until, desperately seeking food, he came closer and closer to the people’s

homes. Nyaru Menteng was contacted and the next day a rescue team went to the

village. As soon as the team arrived, they started to look for the male. They

asked around among the villagers, but nobody had seen the male lately. A few

hours later they found him. Dead. He was burnt all over his body. People had

poured fuel over him and set him on fire. The male had tried to get to a small

pool of swamp water. He never made it. Right besides the water he must have lost

his strength to drag himself into the water and died.

 

 

 

After this tragic situation, we didn’t hear any information from the area for

over a month. The project decided to send out a rescue team to find out about

the situation. One orangutan had been shot by one of the villagers, because it

was eating the young seedlings of the plantation.

 

 

 

There are still more orangutans in the area, but for now, they don’t bother the

people and they don’t eat the young seedlings the employees plant (orangutans do

eat the young seedlings of the oil palm if they are hungry). There are still

fruits to find in the nearby forest, because of the fruiting season. We can call

ourselves very lucky. Going over there now, in the rainy season, is just not

possible. The road is too slippery and there is no way the trucks available here

can make it through the mud. On the last trip, the truck got stuck for more than

6 hours.

 

 

 

The latest information is that the same company started to open up a new palm

oil plantation. 15.000 ha of tropical rainforest will be cleared in the Kasongan

area.

 

There is a population of wild orangutans living in this forest.

The Kasongan area is below the town Buntut Bali.

 

Last year we already rescued two orangutans from that area. We named them Buntut

and Bali. Maybe you remember the story of Bali – his mother was shot and little

Bali had to be operated in Jakarta because he had a bullet in his left lung,

dangerously close to his heart.

 

If this is going to be the situation in the Kasongan area, in the near future,

we have to prepare ourselves.

 

 

 

There is no doubt that the establishment of palm oil plantations is a great

threat for the populations of wild orangutans and other forest species. Their

natural habitat disappears by the minute. So many animals are killed while they

try to escape.

 

Palm oil is one of the most important export products of Indonesia. Almost 80%

is exported to Europe and the United States. Palm oil is the component for many

daily products we all use, such as: butter, cooking oil, soap and washing

powder.

 

 

 

With thanks to Eko, paramedic at the Nyaru Menteng Rehabilitation Centre, who

supplied the information about the burnt orangutan and the situation in Central

Kalimantan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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