Indonesia releases eight rescued orangutans into protected Borneo forest

Indonesian authorities and the YIARI Wildlife Rehabilitation Foundation have released eight orangutans rescued from fire-threatened areas into Batu Nyambu Protected Forest in West Kalimantan, on Borneo, according to reports published on 11 October. The animals included three mothers with their offspring and two male teenagers.¹²

Release into protected forest

The release returned eight rescued orangutans to a protected forest after fires affected habitats in West Kalimantan, according to Indonesian authorities and YIARI. The animals had been recovered from several locations affected by fires, and the reserve was chosen for its food and water availability and its connections with other forest areas, YIARI operational director Argitoe Ranting said.²

Batu Nyambu Protected Forest covers 23,000 hectares and contains both primary and secondary forest, according to the report. Ranting said the aim was to give rescued animals conditions in which they could live in their natural habitat, rather than merely transferring them elsewhere.²

The eight animals consisted of three mothers and their three daughters, alongside two adult males, according to the BBC. Another account described the six family members as three mother-and-baby pairs and the males as teenagers.¹²

Rescues during fires

Indonesian authorities and YIARI said they had rescued 46 orangutans from fire threats between August and Friday, according to the Japan Times. The BBC also reported that Indonesian authorities had rescued 46 orangutans from fires. The reports described fires as burning through habitats holding 52% of Borneo's orangutan population, although that figure was reported by one source.¹²

According to the BBC, rescuers recovered Mama Nopi in September with Nopi, Naufal and Nopan after the family had lived on a plantation growing coconuts and rubber. The report said surrounding forest had burned, limiting food access and bringing the animals nearer to people.¹

Karmele Llano Sanchez, chief executive of International Animal Rescue Indonesia, described relocation when habitat becomes unsafe as a "necessary step". She said: "Protection of habitats will always be a top priority to ensure orangutans continue to have safe forests to live in".²

Fire and population pressures

Wildfires are usual during Indonesia's dry season but were more intense this year, according to the BBC. The reports attributed the increase in intensity to the El Niño weather phenomenon; the BBC said it makes weather patterns more volatile and intense. The Japan Times also reported that experts linked landscape changes to slash-and-burn land-clearing practices.¹²

The fires caused severe local haze, tens of thousands of respiratory illness cases locally and pollution increases in Singapore and Malaysia, according to the Japan Times. Orangutans are critically endangered, and the World Wide Fund for Nature was cited as putting their remaining population across Borneo and Sumatra at about 104,000, compared with more than 230,000 a century ago.¹²