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Group works to rescue Borneo’s threatened orangutans

In this Jan. 7, 2016, photo, conservationists of Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation hold a baby orangutan rescued along with its mother during a rescue and release operation for orangutans trapped in a swath of jungle in Sungai Mangkutub, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Last year’s forest fires drove orangutans closer to the river bank, where they had to live in an overpopulated swath of forest as thin as 30 yards wide along the river.
Dita Alangkara Associated Press

SUNGAI MANGKUTUB, Indonesia – In a dense strip of peat swamp jungle along the banks of Mangkutub River in the heart of Borneo, a conservationist aims his tranquilizer rifle at an orangutan high in a tree and fires two darts.

The giant, red-haired primate slides down the tree on its own and soon loses consciousness on the jungle floor.

A team of 10 rescuers from the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation huddle around the adult male and perform a brief medical examination – checking temperature, teeth to determine rough age, taking a blood sample and inserting a chip under its skin – before preparing to transport the orangutan to a release site about 50 miles away, where they believe it will have more space to roam and be less threatened by forest fires.

Forest fires, often set illegally to clear land, have been an annual problem in Indonesia since the mid-1990s.

The fires encroached on the habitat of orangutans in central Borneo, forcing them to move closer to river banks, in some places along a strip of forest as narrow as 30 yards near the Mangkutab River. The population of the big apes got so crowded that experts worried they would starve and get into conflicts with people living nearby.

“Recent forest fires have made it difficult for orangutans to find food, and this is very dangerous for them,” said Ahmad Sayoko, coordinator of rescue and release mission.

Most rescued orangutans were found in bad condition, apparently starving and some with cataracts. One had multiple air rifle pellets in its head and leg, a sign of conflict with humans.

Southeast Asia’s Sumatra and Borneo islands are the orangutans’ last homes on Earth, and environmentalists warn that the estimated 60,000 animals remaining could disappear from the wild within the next decade if steps aren’t taken to protect them. Wild orangutans also are threatened by poaching and illegal logging.

“We have to rescue and relocate them as soon as possible or they could lose their lives,” said Kissar Odom, who works for the foundation. During the team’s first operation in November, they rescued and relocated 39 orangutans, he said.

On this, the team’s second operation, rescuers have spotted an orangutan nearly every 10 minutes as they ride along in the boat, a sign that the area along the river has a higher population density than is healthy.

Team members carried the large tranquilized orangutan through a dense swamp and put it in a cage, which was then loaded on a waiting boat to be taken to the release site.

They hope to rescue two or three of the great apes each day, Sayoko said.