Indonesia: One Orangutan Rescued, Many More in Danger

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 15 Apr 12;

An orangutan that spent 10 days trapped in a net is fighting for its life after being rescued by an animal rights group.

The orangutan, named Pelansi, after where it was found, is in critical condition. It had been trapped by a villager on a palm oil plantation owned by Kayong Agro Lestari in West Kalimantan.

International Animal Rescue Indonesia, which saved Pelansi, said this case highlighted the increased danger faced by orangutans as their forest home was cut down to make way for plantations, and the need to get companies involved in efforts to ensure orangutans did not disappear.

“We hope that Pelansi can make it through the critical phase so that we can release him back into the forest as soon as possible,” Adi Irawan, from IAR, said on Friday.

He said a villager had placed about 60 traps across the 400- hectare plantation, hoping to catch wild pigs and deer to be sold and eaten. “But he can end up trapping orangutans or even human beings,” Adi said.

According to the group, there are hundreds of orangutans in the area around the plantation, which used to be forest.

“That’s why we call on all plantation companies to commit to helping orangutans and other endangered animals,” Adi said.

A first step, he said, would be for plantation companies to follow international guidelines that would help avoid, or at least minimize, conflicts between humans and orangutans in and around the plantations.

Indonesian law says anyone caught hunting or trapping orangutans, which are protected, can face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to Rp 100 million ($11,000).

Forest fires and land clearing by palm oil firms could wipe out the forests home of orangutans within years, according to some environmental groups.

They say orangutans are being driven out of their ever-shrinking habitats, which are increasingly under siege from logging and plantation interests, or specifically targeted by poachers in the illegal wildlife trade.

Bornean orangutans are more numerous, with 45,000 of them left in their natural habitat. However the species is still listed as endangered.

On Friday, the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation said it would release six orangutans it had saved back into the wild his month.

The six orangutans have been at the foundation’s reintroduction center in Semboja Lestari, East Kalimantan, for several months, said the foundation’s communication officer, Ajeng Ika Nugraheni.