Indonesia relocates 8 orangutans into protected forest after rescue from wildfires

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Eight endangered orangutans were released into a protected forest weeks after wildfires destroyed large swaths of their habitat in Indonesian Borneo, a conservation group said.

The orangutans, including three mothers with infants and two adolescent males, were rescued from areas in Ketapang and North Kayong regencies that were ravaged by fires between August and September.

The animals were moved Oct. 8 to Batu Nyambu protected forest in West Kalimantan province, said Heribertus Suciadi, a spokesperson for the Indonesian Nature Rehabilitation Initiative Foundation, or YIARI.

The wildfires cut off habitat corridors and reduced access to food sources, forcing the apes into plantations inhabited by people in search of food and shelter and stranding them there, Suciadi told The Associated Press on Monday.

“They had no burns, open wounds, broken bones or other life-threatening injuries, but appeared to be suffering from malnutrition and dehydration,” Suciadi said.

Among those rescued were a female orangutan known as Mama Man and her infant, Man, who had been monitored for months in a small forest patch surrounded by plantations. Expanding fires and heavy smoke left them with no safe route back to larger forests before they were evacuated in early September, Suciadi said.

Two other mother-and-infant pairs and two juvenile males were found in similar conditions after fires swept through forests near villages in Ketapang and North Kayong, Suciadi said.

The orangutans underwent veterinary examinations and observation at a rehabilitation center operated by YIARI to ensure they were healthy enough to return to the wild. The release site in Batu Nyambu was selected because the area remains largely intact despite wildfires and offers abundant food sources, water, nesting trees and connections to neighboring forests, YIARI Operational Director Argitoe Ranting said before their release.

“We want to ensure that rescued orangutans are not simply moved from one place to another, but actually have a chance to survive in their natural habitat,” he said, adding that protected forests capable of receiving displaced orangutans are becoming increasingly scarce as fires spread.

Forest and land fires in Indonesia have worsened this year as El Niño intensifies a prolonged dry season. Contributing factors also include land clearances using fire in the Indonesian part of Borneo and regions of Sumatra island, as well as water shortages that have hampered Indonesian firefighters, who have received assistance from Japan.

A male orangutan named Sampurna, believed to be around 20 years old, was found struggling to breathe by residents in early September on a palm oil plantation in West Kalimantan’s Ketapang district, an area affected by wildfires. He died hours after being rescued, Indonesia’s Forestry Ministry said.

As of Saturday, the ministry said, more than 270 wild animals in Indonesia's part of Borneo had been rescued, rehabilitated or guided to safer habitats, including 46 orangutans rescued by YIARI.

The relocation was a last resort after the orangutans’ original habitat was no longer safe, YIARI CEO Karmele Llano Sanchez said.

“These orangutans have been traumatized and other impacts by wildfires that devastated their habitat, leaving them displaced,” she said, “Rescuing them is one of the best ways we can help them survive.”