Nine orangutans rescued from Borneo wildfires are released back into a protected forest

Nine orangutans rescued from wildfires on the Indonesian part of Borneo have been released back into the wild, AFP reported on 30 October. The group, including four mothers with their young, was taken to Batu Nyambu, a 23,000-hectare protected forest in Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan province, by the rescue group YIARI.

Burned hands and empty stomachs

The orangutans were rescued from fires in their forest home in Ketapang in August and September. “Some of them had burns on their hands and feet, and some of them were skinny and malnourished,” said Karmele Llano Sanchez, chief executive of YIARI. They spent four to eight weeks at YIARI's rehabilitation center in Ketapang before release.

Recovery was not only physical. “While they were in quarantine and rehabilitation, they were extremely stressed and showed abnormal behavior,” said Ishma Maula, a YIARI veterinarian. During the final health check, three of the mothers turned out to be pregnant. One pair, Mama Ocha and her baby Ocha, was among those released.

A forest that escaped the flames

Reaching the release site took a car ride, a kayak trip and hours of walking through dense forest. Batu Nyambu was chosen because its forests are largely untouched and offer plenty of food and shelter. YIARI's operational director, Argitoe Ranting, said the goal is for rescued orangutans to “have a chance to survive in their natural habitat.”

It is the second group returned there this month. On 9 October, eight orangutans rescued from fires, three mother-and-baby pairs and two young males, were released into the same protected forest, according to a statement by Indonesia's forestry ministry and YIARI reported by AFP and The Star. At that point, 46 orangutans had been rescued from fire threats since August, said Murlan Dameria Pane, head of the local natural resources agency. “As long as their habitat remains threatened, rescue is one of the best options we can take to help them survive,” Sanchez said then.

“Some of them had burns on their hands and feet, and some of them were skinny and malnourished.” — Karmele Llano Sanchez, CEO of YIARI

A fire season that hit orangutan country hard

At least 51 orangutans were rescued from burning forests in West Kalimantan between early August and mid-October, according to Indonesia's forestry ministry. Fires burned more than 1.9 million hectares in the first nine months of the year, the monitoring group Nusantara Atlas estimates, and IUCN said fires were burning in areas that support more than half of Borneo's orangutan population.

Orangutans are critically endangered. About 104,000 remain in the wild on Borneo and Sumatra, less than half the number of a century ago, according to WWF. Experts link much of the forest loss to slash-and-burn land clearing tied to timber, palm oil and mining. Other animals given a second chance are collected under wildlife rescue.