An orang utan mother and her baby, threatened by encroaching wildfires to their habitat in Indonesia, were rescued earlier this week, authorities said in a statement.
The vast South-East Asian archipelago has for weeks been fighting wildfires blanketing parts of Borneo and Sumatra with smog, with the haze also contributing to air pollution in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.
The orang utan pair had been under observation since July after being spotted in a plantation area near a forest in West Kalimantan, a local natural resources conservation agency said in a statement yesterday.
But authorities decided to evacuate them to a rescue centre managed by the wildlife foundation Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (Yiari) on Thursday as fire spread near their habitat.
Their health is being closely monitored by veterinarians, but a preliminary check found no burn injuries on the two great apes.
“Exposure to smoke over a period of time ... can affect the orang utan’s respiratory system, especially when smoke concentrations in the habitat are very high,” Yiari’s veterinarian Komara, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said in a statement yesterday.
“Both individuals will continue to be monitored while they are at the rescue and rehabilitation centre.”
The latest rescue means nine orang utans have been evacuated because of threats from wildfires in less than a month in the Ketapang district of West Kalimantan province, Yiari operational director Argitoe Ranting said.
“This shows that fires not only destroy forests but also deprive animals of shelter and food,” Argitoe said.
“Most animals do not have many options to relocate as their habitat burns,” he added.
One orang utan died after being rescued last week, with a necropsy result pointing to smoke exposure as the cause of death, the West Kalimantan natural resources conservation agency said in a statement. — AFP
