Indonesia Saves 46 Orangutans Amid Raging Borneo Wildfires
The rescue operations were conducted between August and Oct. 9 by the West Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency in partnership with the IAR Indonesia Foundation, a state-run news agency reported.
Agency chief Murlan Dameria Pane said eight orangutans in good health were transferred Friday to the Batu Nyambu Protection Forest in Ketapang district after undergoing medical examinations and a period of observation.
The animals were recovered from Ketapang and North Kayong districts, where fires have devastated forest cover, forcing orangutans into plantations in search of refuge and leaving them with scarce food supplies.
One particularly concerning rescue involved a mother orangutan and her baby found stranded on a 400-square-meter (4,305-square-foot) patch of acacia trees surrounded by oil palm plantations.
Argitoe Ranting, operational director of the IAR Indonesia Foundation, said the 23,000-hectare Batu Nyambu forest was chosen as a relocation site after assessments confirmed its food resources, water availability and ecological suitability for the animals.
However, Ranting cautioned that moving the orangutans to safer areas would not, by itself, resolve the ongoing destruction of their natural habitats.
Meanwhile, Karmele Llano Sanchez, chief of IAR Indonesia, said several rescued orangutans remained under intensive medical care for injuries and health complications, including burns, malnutrition and severe anemia.
The affected animals will need additional treatment and recovery time before conservation teams can determine whether they are ready to return to appropriate natural habitats.
The rescue effort highlights the growing threat that wildfires pose to Borneo's endangered orangutans, whose survival depends on the preservation of increasingly vulnerable forest ecosystems.
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