Orangutans pulled from Indonesia's wildfires as rescuers race to save them
Rescue teams in Indonesia have saved dozens of orangutans from wildfires in Borneo and Sumatra in recent months, including a burned young female named Novita now in intensive care.
Rescue teams in Indonesia have saved dozens of orangutans from wildfires burning across Borneo and Sumatra in recent months, AFP reported on 9 October. One of them, a young female named Novita, is still in intensive care at the Nyaru Menteng rehabilitation centre in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan.
Novita was found clinging to a tree in a burning area
Novita, estimated to be three or four years old, was found in late September clinging to a tree as fire spread through the area. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation tranquilised her and moved her to the rehabilitation centre. She has burns on her hands and feet.
“We rescued her from an area that was burning.” — Jamartin Sihite, CEO, Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation
On Thursday, a team found a male orangutan named Bara in a tree on burned land. He was described as relatively healthy with minor burns and will be moved to a nature reserve elsewhere in Central Kalimantan.
Rescuers have been busy since August
Earlier rescues included a mother and her one-year-old daughter, named Raya and Rayu, evacuated from the haze in East Kotawaringin in early September by the regional conservation agency, the military and Orangutan Foundation International, The Star reported.
El Niño has made this a severe fire season
Government figures show more than 202,000 hectares burned between January and July, and the satellite-monitoring project Nusantara Atlas estimated nearly 896,000 hectares had burned by the end of August. The fires have been worsened by El Niño, which is expected to be one of the strongest in four decades of records.
Rehabilitation takes time, and Novita remains under intensive care. Communities on Borneo are also helping in other ways, such as villagers paid to photograph wildlife instead of hunting it.
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