Wildfires are devastating orangutans’ habitat in the Indonesian region of Borneo. A rehabilitation center is homing increasing numbers of the critically endangered primates.
Image: Muffidz Ma’sum/YIARI/Indonesia Ministry of Forestry/AFP
Severe wildfires have raged on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra since July. According to Indonesia’s government, the fires could continue through November because of this year’s strong El Niño weather pattern. Orangutans are particularly threatened. Three species exist worldwide, and they live exclusively on these two islands, where the fires are destroying what’s left of their habitat.
Image: Reina/AFP
The Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI) foundation is dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of orangutans in Ketapang, in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan. The increasing number of rescue operations lays bare the magnitude of the emergency. YIARI has taken in 49 orangutans since August and is now caring for a total of 90 of the primates.
Image: Willy Kurniawan/REUTERS
“I think so far this looks quite similar to the 2015 fires,” Karmele Llano Sanchez, co-founder of the YIARI rehabilitation center, told the Reuters news agency. “It’s possible that, in the months to come, the orangutans will also be affected by not having enough to eat, not having enough room, enough habitat and starvation.”
Image: Willy Kurniawan/REUTERS
When YIARI volunteers receive reports of orangutan sightings, they use drones to survey the burned forest areas in order to track down the animals. The rescue teams often drive for hours to reach the affected areas. Equipped with tranquilizer darts, they search for the animals and, if necessary, capture them using nets to bring them to safety away from the danger zone.
Image: Muffidz Ma’sum/YIARI/Indonesia Ministry of Forestry/AFP
The foundation employs more than 200 people, including firefighters and veterinarians. “Fires are occurring in many areas. As a result, the orangutans are being displaced into plantations,” says Relly Susanto, a YIARI patrol member. After being rescued, the great apes are safely transported to the rehabilitation center in transport cages.
Image: Willy Kurniawan/REUTERS
Help came too late for Sampurna, who was found struggling to breathe on a palm oil plantation in August and died of severe respiratory problems within 12 hours of being rescued. The attending veterinarian said the lung damage revealed in the autopsy resembled that of a heavy smoker.
Image: Victor Fidelis Sentosa/REUTERS
From January through July, approximately 200,000 hectares (480,000 acres) of forest and land burned in Indonesia. Official figures for the months since are not available. But nongovernmental organizations estimate that at least another 600,000 hectares were destroyed. The smoke spread as far as Singapore and Malaysia, leading to school closures and a significant increase in respiratory illnesses.
Image: Abriansyah Liberto/REUTERS
“I think, in general, what we see is that these orangutans that were surviving in these fragments of forest, and the forest fragments are becoming smaller and smaller and smaller,” Sanchez says. At present, YIARI has capacity to take in more animals. But it is uncertain how much longer the center will be able to manage the task should the fires rage unabated.
Image: Victor Fidelis Sentosa/REUTERS
“One of our concerns is whether we’ll have enough capacity to really get all of these rescued orangutans into the facility,” Sanchez says. Although YIARI has also been affected by the smoke, the center itself is not currently in immediate danger from the fires. Some of the rescued animals have already been released back into the wild in safer locations.
Image: Willy Kurniawan/REUTERS9 images1 | 99 imageshttps://p.dw.com/p/5OXza
