Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation - Saving the Orangutan.

October 25, 2006

Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation

BOS UK Saving the Orangutan

know more about this issue and how to help save them:

http://www.savetheorangutan.co.uk/

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BOS UK - Saving the Orangutan

The Orangutan is one of man’s closest relatives, but man’s activities have left the Orangutan in danger of extinction. Over the last century their population has dwindled by 90%, while approximately 80% of their habitat has been lost during the last 20 years.

The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS) is a not-for-profit foundation. BOS works under an official agreement with the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry for the conservation of Orangutans and their ecosystem by involving and educating the local people.

Find out more about Orangutans and their plight on this website and help us help them by becoming a BOS member or by simply giving a donation to BOS.

Orangutans

“Their eyes hold a story that is indecipherable and yet intuitively we relate to them. Just one look into those eyes and you are hooked.”

Orangutans are highly intelligent with an ability to reason and think. This large, gentle red ape is one of our closest relatives, sharing 97% of the same DNA as humans. Indigenous peoples of Indonesia and Malaysia call this ape “Orang Hutan” literally translating into English as “People of the Forest”.

In times past they would not kill them because they felt the orangutan was simply a person hiding in the trees, trying to avoid having to go to work or become a slave.

Orangutans are unique in the ape world. There are four kinds of great apes: gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans. Only the orangutan comes from Asia; the others all come from Africa. There are two separate species of orangutan - the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) and the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) Orangutans are only found on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.

The orangutan is the only strictly arboreal ape and is actually the largest tree living mammal in the world. The rest of the apes do climb and build sleeping nests in the trees, but are primarily terrestrial (spending their lives on the ground). Even the hair color of the orangutan, a bright reddish brown, is unique in the ape world.

Orangutan Threats

Why does the orangutan need our help? Orangutans are one of the most critically endangered of the great apes, due to poaching and habitat loss. Based on the World Bank’s estimation that mechanized logging in the Kalimantan forest, (Indonesian Borneo), will result in its total loss by 2010, and other statistics stating that wild orangutans are disappearing at a rate of 5,000 orangutans per year, optimistic predictions give the orangutan ten more years before extinction in the wild.

A crisis exists for the orangutan

Never before has its very existence been threatened so severely. Economic crisis combined with natural disasters and human abuse of the forest are pushing our closest cousins to extinction. They have lost approximately 80% of their habitat in the last 20 years. We lost approximately 1/3 of the wild population of orangutans during the fires of ‘97-’98. There are approximately 12,000 to 15,000 orangutans remaining in Borneo (compared to about 20,000 in 1996) and approximately 4,000 to 6,000 left in Sumatra (compared to about 10,000 in 1996).

The threats to the survival of the orangutan are numerous and difficult to remedy.

These include:

Loss of Habitat

Poaching

The illegal pet/zoo trade

know more about this issue and how to help save them:

http://www.savetheorangutan.co.uk/

Forest Fires in Borneo - Boycott Palm Oil:

Nyaru Menteng Rescues Orangutans from Fires Palm Oil Companies to Blame for More Devastation

The fires now have nearly reached the level they did in 1997-98

Fires, primarily set by palm oil companies, continue to rage out of control in Borneo and Sumatra, sending a thick, choking haze over Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and even as far away as Guam, 3600 km to the east. Schools and airports in the region have been closed, and people advised to stay indoors. The fires now have nearly reached the level they did in 1997-98, which cost the region an estimated US$9 billion in disruptions to air travel and other business activities, and which wiped out as much as a third of the existing population of orangutans. The fires were estimated to have destroyed 5 million hectares -- an area equivalent to Costa Rica. Palangka Raya, the area where our Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Project is located, is the worst hit, with over 2.5 million acres of peatland currently on fire, and with visibility now down to less than 30 meters. The reports from the field are horrendous, and our rescue teams have been working without let up. The area where we released 42 wild orangutans in March is now on fire, as well as parts of the Mawas Reserve. Hardi, the assistant manager at Nyaru Menteng, recently wrote: “There is a big forest fire in the Agro Bukit concession. We believe that it burn by workers under the order of plantation management. Orangutans run burning forest to plantation and many of them killed! Our rescue team works hard to save them by translocate to another area. We got 4 orphaned babies.” Ministers from ASEAN countries met last week in order to come up with a plan to tackle the problem, but failed to reach a detailed attack plan. Indonesia is the only country in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations that has yet to ratify the 2002 Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, which would result in the establishment of a regional co-ordinating centre capable of reacting quickly to the smoke and in which signatories gain access to a 'haze fund' to help them with fighting fires and the seeding of clouds. However, even without ratification, Indonesia was offered help to put out the fires, but there has not been any positive response to accept the assistance.Fleur Butcher, of BOS Australia, recently returned from Nyaru Menteng. She wrote: “It was with relief and excitement I boarded a cramped little aircraft, leavingthe chaos of Jakarta knowing I would soon be at Nyaru Menteng. It was a short flight and in no time at all I was descending through the clouds. I peered through the window looking for familiar landmarks and the scars of cleared forest on the land. The clouds seemed to go on forever. It took some time before I realised we were flying through thick smoke. The ground appeared briefly before we smacked into the runway. The brakes squealed and the plane shuddered as the pilot did his best to slow us down. We ended up with a meter to spare at the end of the runway. Welcome to Palangkarya.“Going down the stairs of the plane I was not only hit by the expected heat and humidity, but by choking smoke. It was like standing on the wrong side of a camp fire. My chest burned and eyes started to water.“I was met by Lone’s friendly face. She explained the smoke was just the norm at the moment. It had not rained for two months, and fires just burned constantly. Driving down the nerve wrecking roads was given an added dimension with the reduced visibility.” The Indonesian Government has stated that the burning is coming from the traditional slash-and-burn activities of smallholders and not plantation companies. They add that the only way to stop the fires is to wait for the annual rains, which are expected to arrive within the next few weeks. Even if the rains do come, the peat can continue to burn for many more months, bringing with it even more victims.Today, another email arrived from Hardi in Nyaru Menteng: “Saturday night, I work 24 hours to save 3 orangutan babies from palm oil plantation. Forest fires more and more bigger in Sampit, especially in Agro Bukit. We also got 2 gibbons from the areas. On Monday, we got one more orangutan. Her feet burned very bad. At Tuesday morning (02.00), the reporter from National Geographic come with 1 red leaf-eating monkey...infant baby. She looks dying. I was crying and asked: why? Thanks to medical team! She still alive until now...unfortunately the death come to another orangutan. Metallica passed away. Do you still remember her? Girl with fingers cut off by plantation workers. Today, the rescue team come with 1 orangutan and 2 gibbons. I also get sms from Bram and teamfrom Agro Bukit. He told me that he found an adult male orangutan with broken hand. At least 20 people catch him...with wooden stick! He is bloody. Michelle, I have no anymore hope to solve this problem. I have to find any alternative ways....to stop this soon.”To demand urgent international action to address this issue at the forthcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Nairobi, go to:

http://www.climateark.org