LONDON, November 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
In the last few months, a team International Animal Rescue (IAR)
has been working round the clock to save orang-utans from burning
forests in Ketapang, West
Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo.)
"Thus far our
Rescue Team has rescued more than 20
orang-utans from burnt
forest and we are still rescuing
more. What is worse
is that we
don't know how many
orang-utans have
perished before we were
able to rescue them.
This is by far the largest number of rescues
IAR has had to conduct in the
area since we
opened our
orang-utan centre
in 2009 and it is a
deeply worrying indication
of the plight of orang-utans in Indonesia," says Tantyo
Bangun, Chairman of IAR Indonesia.
Indonesia's National Space and
Aviation Agency (LAPAN) reports that more than 2 million hectares
of land in Indonesia have been
burnt in the past few months. It is still not known what
devastating and perhaps irreparable damage these recent fires have
had on Indonesia's tropical
rainforests and already rapidly declining orang-utan
populations.
IAR's Human Orangutan Conflict (HOC) team is monitoring
orang-utans stranded in burnt areas. The animals are suffering from
starvation and malnutrition after the fires have destroyed
everything around them, leaving a landscape with few trees and no
food sources. The HOC team tracks down, captures and translocates
orangutans that stand no chance of survival without human
intervention and is assisted by local people who raise the alarm
when an orang-utan is spotted in the area.
"The saddest image you can think of
is a magnificent orang-utan
that should be
travelling in the top of the canopy but instead
has to drag itself on the ground,
struggling even to
find a standing tree suitable to
make a nest," says Gail Campbell-Smith, Programme Manager of IAR
Indonesia. "An extra concern is that, as habitat is wiped
out, instances of human-
orang-utan conflict increase and
the animals are in danger of being
killed by farmers as they enter farms looking for
food."
While IAR's team is working round the clock to save these
animals and their forest, COP21, the
United Nations Climate Change Conference, launches in Paris on 30 November. Governments from all
around the world will gather to discuss an agreement to reduce
carbon emissions and slow down the effects of climate change.
The fires that have spread out of control in Indonesia this year have been exacerbated by
the extended dry season, caused by the El Nino Southern Oscillation
(ENSO) phenomenon. These forest fires are responsible for massive
carbon emissions, severely aggravating the effects of climate
change, and have a devastating effect on human health. Similar
fires in 1997 emitted between 0.81 and 2.57 gig tonnes of carbon
(Page et al, 2002) and resulted in an estimated 20 million
people suffering respiratory problems, with 19,800 - 48,100
premature deaths (Harrison et al, 2009).
The Indonesian Institute for Meteorology, Climatology and
Geophysics (BMKG) has predicted another severe drought for next
year, as the effects of this year's El Nino continue in to the
spring of 2016. While the belated monsoon has given a break to the
forest fires, the risk that this will happen again next year is of
profound concern. "If
preventive measures are not taken,
funds are not invested in fire prevention, and those companies and
individuals who start the fires
are not prosecuted, this ecological
disaster (already called
one of the worst
ecological disasters of the century)
could return again next
year," says Bangun.
Karmele Llano Sanchez, Programme Director of IAR Indonesia,
adds: "We are still dealing with
the devastating effects of the previous fires and our
team is working really hard to save the lives of as
many orang-utans as
possible. Now
we also need to
start trying to restore
and reforest the burnt areas. The thought of the
humans and animals of Borneo and
Sumatra experiencing it all again
next year is too much to
bear."
The graphic photos and footage released by IAR show the
devastating effects of the fires on the orang-utans. The images
convey the helplessness of animals left stranded in the debris of
forests burnt to the ground by the fires. Most poignant among those
rescued are mothers with their tiny babies clinging to them. Only
weeks ago the heartbreaking photo of Mama Anti and her baby shocked
and moved people across the globe. The images of Mama Novia and
baby Noval, who were among the latest series of rescues, are
equally heart breaking. "This is not very
different to the devastating effects of a war and it should be
considered a world
crime," says Sanchez.
Just a week ago the IAR team celebrated the release of six of
the rescued orang-utans in Gunung Palung National Park in
West Kalimantan. This release
operation involved 15 members of IAR's team and 25 local people
carrying the transport cages on foot to the release site - a trek
that lasted four hours - and has been one of the few happy moments
in the last few months. "We are glad
these orang-utans have been given a second
chance. There is no doubt that all of them
would now be dead if it was not
for us," says
Campbell-Smith. The National Park authority, The Agency of Natural
Resources Conservation (BKSDA) of Gunung Palung, granted permission
to IAR to conduct these releases in the National Park.
Sanchez adds: "We are
ready to continue working flat
out to save the lives of animals that stand no chance of
survival without our
help. But that is not a
lasting solution to the problem. It is vital that serious
action is taken to prevent further
outbreaks of fires. There is no
future for the orangutan unless all parties involved can make a
commitment to conserving sufficient
habitat to ensure their survival and implement
measures to reduce carbon emissions and reduce the likelihood of
further El Nino climatic events. We hope that
determined actions will result from this Climate Conference
because we are running out of
time."
Link to photos and captions:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9cnqzes620xmzmf/AABQ275Jd6XID9sPDuPXg0sta?dl=0
Link to photos and footage of orangutan rescues:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ytbwowil915l8an/AACUC488m9lYMEMn89jt0yCTa?dl=0
Link to photos of the
releases: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x0chm6zm9acxp6y/AADbTKbUW3QptNmJOikpUs-Za?dl=0
References:
Harrison, M. E., Page, S.E. & Limin, S.H. (2009). The global
impact of Indonesian forest fires. Biologist, Vol. 56, pp.
156-163.
Page, S.E., Siegert, F., Rieley, J.O., V. Boehm, H.D., Jaya. A.
& Limin. S. (2002). The amount of carbon released from peat and
forest fires in Indonesia during
1997. Nature, Vol. 420, pp. 61-65.