Six orangutans rescued from fire zone in Indonesia in one week
In Indonesia, rescuers saved six orangutans from fires on the island of Borneo in one week, including two infants that were still nursing. In total, 15 primates were rescued from fire-hit areas over the month, Channel NewsAsia reports.
Animals were cut off from the forest
The orangutans were found on plantations in a rural part of West Kalimantan province, in the Indonesian part of Borneo. Because of the fires, the animals lost a safe route to their forest habitat and could move only between plantations, according to a joint statement by the forestry ministry and the YIARI wildlife rehabilitation foundation.
A large fire was burning 200 meters from the site where the group of critically endangered primates was discovered. The statement said that flames and smoke posed a danger to them, while moving through plantations increased the risk of contact and conflict with local communities.
Four orangutans were rescued on Friday with the participation of residents and plantation workers. Another female with an infant was evacuated on Tuesday. To reduce stress and the risk of injury, rescuers used anesthesia. All six animals were taken to the YIARI rehabilitation center in the city of Ketapang.
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Scale of the fires and firefighting efforts
Orangutans are endemic to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, regions that are heavily affected by large-scale fires. Smoke from them also spread to Malaysia and Singapore. According to the Indonesian government, more than 202,000 hectares of land burned in the country from January to July. Data for August had not yet been released at the time of publication.
The Nusantara Atlas project estimated the burned area at nearly 300,000 hectares and on September 10 gave an estimate of 895,657 hectares including August. The European Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said last week that smoke from fires in August was the worst for any August in the past 24 years.
Authorities deployed about 43,000 firefighters to battle the flames. Berton Panjaitan, a spokesperson for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, also reported the arrival in West Kalimantan of a Japanese Navy ship with three helicopters to drop water on fire hotspots.
