Battle is on to save the orang-utan from near extinction

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Battle is on to save the orang-utan from near extinction

 

 

 

 

 

 

Population could be wiped out within 20 years, warns leading wildlife charity

WWF

By Elizabeth McMeekin

 

 

 

 

A combination of deforestation, illegal trading and hunting could wipe out the

rapidly disappearing wild orang-utan within 20 years.

 

Experts now estimate that at the species’ current rate of decline, only the

small number of orang-utans in captivity around the world will that survive.

 

The World Wildlife Fund is to release figures tomorrow which reveal that the

number of wild orang-utans has decreased by 91% over the last 100 years. The

statistics also show that fewer than 30,000 of the animals are thought to

currently exist, with numbers dwindling rapidly.

 

Orang-utans spend most of their time in the treetops of Malaysian and Indonesian

rain- forests, with the main threat to their existence coming from the

continuing deforestation and illegal logging that takes place on the two islands

they inhabit.

 

Borneo, which is divided be tween Malaysia and Indonesia, and Sumatra, part of

Indonesia, are the only two places in the world where the primate can be found

in the wild.

 

At present, the Sumatran orang-utans face a greater threat. Their population of

7000 is currently decreasing by around 1000 per year. In contrast, the Borneo

orang-utan appears to be more robust with an estimated population of around

24,000.

 

Experts and campaigners have become so concerned by the collapsing numbers of

orang-utans that they are holding a conference this week in Indonesia, in the

hope that more protection can be offered to the species.

 

The Orangutan Foundation is hosting the event, and its director Ashley Leiman

hopes that Indonesian officials will take the animals’ plight on board.

 

“It is quite possible that orang-utans could be extinct in the wild in 20

years,” said Leiman.

 

“It could even be sooner than that, we just don’t know. The main point we have

to stress is that we have to slow down the rate of decline of their habitat.

Hopefully the Indonesian officials will hear that message.”

 

Although Leiman is careful to stress that she does not believe the orang-utan

will disappear as a species altogether in the near future, she does think the

situation has reached crisis point.

 

“I do not think that the Indonesian government will let the orang-utan become

extinct altogether. But what we will end up with is isolated and segmented

populations in different areas. Whether that will be enough to sustain the

species in the long term is hard to tell.”

 

Despite the multiple threats facing the orang-utan populations, Leiman is

adamant that it is the deforestation and, in particular, the illegal logging,

which is the main cause of their demise.

 

“Although there is a certain amount of animal trading that goes on, the majority

of orang-utans are killed because they are at the top of the trees the loggers

want to cut down,” she explained.

 

“They normally kill the mother and only then take the remaining infant to the

village and sell it there. But a lot of orang-utans will often die of starvation

because they have been moved out of their natural habitat or confined to a

smaller area with less food.”

 

Michelle Desilets, director of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, agrees.

A frequent visitor to Indonesia, she has seen for herself the extent of the

problem.

 

“Human presence is definitely having an effect on the orang-utans,” she

explained. “They are naturally timid animals but they are becoming bolder and

bolder, with many having to fight over the same plants for food.”

 

The forests the orang-utans inhabit are mostly being cleared for palm oil

plantations, but many of the areas – protected by Indonesian law – are being

destroyed by loggers acting illegally. However, as Julian Newman from the

Environmental Investigation Agency explains, much of the illegal logging is

happening with the knowledge and, in some cases, acquiescence of the Indonesian

authorities.

 

“Our researchers have seen a massive amount of timber coming from protected

areas,” Newman explained. “This wasn’t a few local people cutting down trees –

this was industrialised logging. And our investigations have also shown that the

people operating the protected parks were not only aware of what was going on

but they were actually charging for the logging.”

 

But despite the views of both Leiman and Newman, many orang-utan experts believe

that overlooking the dangers posed by the skin and meat trade could be just as

dangerous to the animals. Orang-utans are renowned for being slow-moving animals

and are easy targets for hunters as a result.

 

Chair of the Inter national Primate Protection League, Shirley McGreal, is keen

to highlight the problem of illegal animal trading. “We are continually hearing

about the fact that the problem is all about the destruction of their habitat,

but it is usually the larger organisations who say this,” McGreal said.

 

“We see animal trafficking as a huge problem. Of course there are large areas of

forest being destroyed and that is a problem. But these animals are valued at

around $30,000 each and when you think about that, you have to take the problem

of trading seriously.”

 

11 January 2004

 

 

 

 

 

 

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