Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rehabilitation Center, Indonesia- When staff rescued the infant ape from an oil palm plantation in 2004, her hand had been hacked off, probably by a machete blow that killed her mother, and workers had planned to sell her as an exotic pet.
"She was traumatized," said Lone Droscher-Nielsen, a Danish woman who in 1999 founded the orangutan center on the island of Borneo — the world`s largest facility dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of any great ape. "Almost always when we get infants they have seen their mothers killed."
For the baby orangutan, later named Kesi, and the world`s remaining wild orangutans, traumas have become common.
Orangutans are native only to Borneo and Sumatra. Their habitat continues to disappear as Indonesia`s rainforests are felled at a frantic pace by logging companies. Plantations producing palm oil have expanded as demand soars for the oil`s use as a biofuel and in products as diverse as chocolate, detergent and lipstick.
"Raising awareness is of critical importance" to protect orangutans, said Tara Stoinski, director of conservation partnerships at Zoo Atlanta, which has the most orangutans of any zoo in North America.
"Right now the situation for orangutans is so dire that conservation needs to happen in their native country to protect wild habitat," she said.
The percent of forested land in Borneo, which is jointly governed by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei and covers an area twice the size of Germany, has fallen to less than half from 75 percent two decades ago, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
A February United Nations report warned that 98 percent of Borneo`s remaining forests might be cleared by 2022, with richer lowland forests falling much sooner.
Last year, the World Wildlife Fund launched an effort to protect what is left of an 85,000-square-mile tract of rainforest at the center of the island and has stepped up publicity about the orangutans.
A century ago, more than 200,000 orangutans lived in Indonesia`s jungles. Today, estimates of their population range from 37,000 to 45,000, and the number is probably shrinking by some 5,000 animals a year, Droscher-Nielson said.
While companies began logging in Borneo in the 1970s, "the whole thing has escalated because of the palm oil plantations," she said.
Environmentalists blame a slew of factors, including global demand for palm oil and timber, land mismanagement and local-level corruption.
While as much as 30 percent of Indonesian Borneo is classified as protected, local officials often allow palm plantations to infringe on national forests. According to official Indonesian data, logging recently has taken place in 37 of 41 surveyed national parks, the U.N. report stated.
Companies also skirt national laws limiting logging, and as much as 88 percent of all timber cut in Indonesia is illegal, the report stated.
Asia, Europe and North America are "still major recipients of illegally logged wood products," according to the report.
The toll on Borneo`s wildlife is visible at Nyaru Menteng, a sprawling clump of buildings and large enclosures tucked into Borneo`s jungle in Central Kalimantan province.
As forests are cleared, orangutans often go hungry and venture into oil palm plantations and farms, upsetting owners, who kill them as pests.
Other locals hunt mothers in order to sell their young to middlemen, who then sell them as pets and exotic attractions, experts said.
Last year, the Nyaru Menteng center confiscated 80 infant orangutans from homes and plantations and rescued 223 adult animals, the highest number since it opened eight years ago.
Currently, the facility shelters more than 600 of the roughly 1,000 orangutans at several rehabilitation centers throughout Borneo.
Young orangutans often arrive at Nyaru Menteng injured and abused. After a short quarantine period to screen for diseases, employees begin the difficult task of teaching infants to survive in the wild. Once the infants have learned basic skills, the center forces them to forage for food.
But as Borneo`s forests shrink, finding suitable release sites is difficult and even wild adult orangutans often spend months in captivity before being freed.
Environmental groups including the World Wildlife Fund and the United Kingdom-based Friends of the Earth have made saving Borneo`s forests a key aim.
But Central Kalimantan province is a poor part of Indonesia, which falls behind Cuba and Angola when ranked by how much average families can afford, and for many people, protecting the environment is a low priority.
If the forest destruction continues, displaced orangutans such as Kesi may have no wilderness to return to.
On a recent afternoon, the 3-year-old orangutan waved the leathery stump of her left arm vigorously through the humid air.
Despite her handicap, she has learned to climb trees and will be moved out of "baby school" soon, said Rifentik Tuta, a communications manager at the center.
"In a few years, she`ll be able to return to the wild," she said. "If there`s any place to release her."
Source: www.statesman.com (15 Mei 2007)
