Indonesia’s government and wildlife foundation Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI) said Sunday that authorities and conservation workers moved eight orangutans after wildfires destroyed their homes in Borneo’s forests. Three mother-child pairs and two adolescent males were among the animals rescued from several locations between August and September.
Fires have damaged forest habitat and harmed human health across Indonesia and neighboring countries. Haze has caused 175,000 cases of respiratory illness in Indonesia. Deteriorating air quality led many schools in Singapore and Malaysia to close on Friday.
Rescue from burned forest
The eight orangutans moved to Batu Nyambu protected forest. The government and YIARI said the move “is expected to give the eight orangutans a chance to return to living naturally.” Before the transfer, YIARI conservationists checked the animals’ health.
The journey took six hours by car, one hour by boat and two more hours on foot. The animals traveled in cages carried on bamboo poles. The account identifies the immediate costs of the fires: displaced wildlife and public-health cases. It gives no estimate of financial losses or gains associated with the fires.
Since August, the West Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency and YIARI have rescued 46 orangutans affected by fires, agency head Murlan Dameria Pane said. The eight moved to Batu Nyambu were among those rescued in the wider operation. Their relocation followed habitat destruction in several locations, not a single reported fire site.
The scale of the damage
Indonesia is battling its most intense wildfires in 11 years, mainly on Sumatra and Borneo. The government warned that the blazes could continue until November, aggravated by the El Niño weather pattern.
Fires burned around 202,000 hectares (500,000 acres) in Indonesia from January to July this year. Officials haven’t released data for later months. Non-governmental organisations estimate that fires have burned at least 600,000 hectares more since then.
That estimate describes a much larger area affected after July, but the source offers no official total for later months. Smoke has crossed borders, and school closures and respiratory illness register part of the cost for people living with the haze.
A species under pressure
Orangutans are critically endangered great apes found in the wild only on the Southeast Asian islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Indonesia is home to all three recognized species, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Their populations have declined because of deforestation, wildfires and poaching. The rescue operation moved eight animals out of immediate danger and into protected forest. The article also reports those wider pressures alongside the fires, but offers no additional policy proposal to address deforestation or poaching.
Conservation workers and government agency staff carried out the transfer using vehicles, a boat and a foot journey with cages on bamboo poles. The operation secured a safer location for those animals. The reported figures on burned land, illness and continuing fires describe the wider damage still affecting forests and people.