Three Orangutans Rescued by Animal Conservation Agency in Indonesia

Human encroachment on orangutan habitats in Indonesia threatens the extinction of the species, according to International Animal Rescue (IAR).

Orangutans in Indonesia are also illegally hunted or kept as pets, Reuters reported.

Animal rescue workers try to save these endangered creatures by capturing them and relocating them back into the wild.

In this video, International Animal Rescue (IAR) workers set their sights on a wild orangutan squatting in a local resident’s garden and damaging crops in the area.

Footage shows rescuers preparing equipment to capture and transport the orangutan, which they named Tomang.

After tracking Tomang down, a worker aims a rifle charged with an anesthetic dart.

Watch the video, which details the capture and rescue of this wild orangutan.

Another two orangutans named Joy and Utu were rescued from wooden cages, after they were bought from a hunter for $21 each by their owners and kept as pets in West Kalimantan, Indonesia.

It is illegal to keep an orangutan as a pet in Indonesia.

All the orangutans were later relocated to the conservation area of a National Park run by the local government, according to the IAR.

Authorities have in recent months found a number of killed animals, including endangered Borneo orangutans, after conflicts with farmers or plantation workers.

According to the Orangutan Project website, IAR signed an agreement with Indonesian authorities regarding the rescue, rehabilitation, and relocation of orangutans that have lost their forest habitat to make way for palm oil plantations.

The agreement allowed for land to be bought and facilities to be created where rescued orangutans can be nursed to health before being released back into the wild.

According to Orangutan Project, populations of orangutans are estimated to have declined by over 50 percent over the last 60 years, making their extinction in the wild a real prospect.

Human encroachment is to blame, according to the website.

“Massive increase in oil palm plantations has caused the most destruction to orangutan habitat, however other factors including unsustainable timber extraction, development of tree plantations for paper and pulp, small-scale community agriculture, mining and direct orangutan killings have also contributed to the decline in orangutan numbers. Most orangutans are located outside of protected areas, leaving them even more vulnerable.”

The organization cautions that if deforestation in the Borneo region of Indonesia continues at its current pace, the likelihood of human-orangutan conflict will increase and “it is unlikely that orangutans will survive in the long-term.”

Recommended Video:

Huge Crocodile Snags Fisherman’s Catch at Last Moment