Palm Oil Risks Orangutans Existence
Palm oil — an essential to bio-diesels — is receiving an ever increasing demand, threatening the very existence of orangutans in Borneo which sustains the world’s largest population of the primate.
Photo Shashank Mittal
Lone Nielsen, of Borneo Orangutan Survival, said the primates lose their habitat through deforestation to make way to palm plantations for palm oil, where orangutans are being severely beaten by workers. The Borneo Survival group is taking care of more than 600 orangutans, most of which are orphans, reports Physorg for United Press International.
Nielsen said, “There are broken bones, cracked skulls, burns, internal injuries. The plantation workers beat them because they want to catch them and the only way you can catch an orangutan is to knock it unconscious.”
Lone Dröscher-Nielsen is the manager of the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Reintroduction project, one of two rescue and rehabilitation centers run by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, founded in 1991 by Dr. Willie Smits, a Dutch forest engineer. The other centre is Wanariset, which has now moved into the Samboja Lestari Project, a 2000 rehabilitation reforestation project, says Jean Kern.
Jean adds that Nyaru Menteng, near the city of Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan, was founded in 1999 by Lone with the help of Willie Smits and the Gibbon Foundation. Nyaru Menteng was built for 100 orang utans, and at this moment there are more than 632!! And almost every day the rescue teams have to go out to rescue more and more!
Visit www.savetheorangutan.org.uk to find out more about what BOS is doing.
Rescued Infant Bornean Orangutans On Location: Central Kalimantan, Borneo
Photo Films4Conservation
Fortunate to survive, these 2 are now orphans after their mothers were killed. For each orangutan rescued, about 5 have been slain on the plantations — the new forest of Kalimantan.
Photo Films4Conservation
Infant Pigtail macaque faces an unhappy future tied on a short rope to a pole, showing signs of mange from association with dogs.
Photo orangutan Karta
Massive bands of tropical rainforest about the size of 3 football fields are being cleared to grow palm oil every single minute, particularly in Kalimantan.
Vast areas of the land have become degraded and unused, for which unscrupulous companies acquire land for the sole purpose of selling the valuable timber harvested from the hardwood forests, thereby reducing the costs of setting up a plantation by approximately 40%.
Photo Phil Handley 12
Experts have identified the clearance of rainforest for palm oil expansion as the single greatest threat to the survival of the orangutan in the wild. It’s currently estimated that 5000 orangutans are dying every year in Borneo, and 1000 per year in Sumatra — averaging 15 every single day.
Photo Graham Elle
Cockroach Productions has partial funding to shoot a documentary relating the human element of forest clearance. You can help them to achieve their funding by donating to sponsor this film to protect natural forest. Contact Cockroach Productions at info@films4.org or find out more about the deforestation and its effects at their site.
Photo Kabirdas
Photo Y3MBaily
Photo Jean Kern
Photo Kamon
Photo Jean Kern
Photo Eschipul
Photo MatrainKLW
Photo Bryan Webster
Photo Jean Kern
Illegal Animal Trade
Exploring the links between the expansion of the palm oil industry and the boom in wildlife trade for pets and entertainment in Indonesia.
ONE — Please Save Our Orangutans
What BOS is doing. Go to www.orangutans.com.au and help make a difference.
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There are a few mistakes in this report. First of all: Lone Dröscher-Nielsen is the manager of the Nyaru menteng Orangutan Reintroduction project, this is one of two rescue- and rehabiliationcentres run by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, founded in 1991 by dr. Willie Smits, a dutch forest engineer. The other centre is Wanariset, which has now moved into the Samboja Lestari Project, a 2000 ha reforestation project.
Nyaru Menteng, near the city of Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan, was founded in 1999 by Lone with the help of Willie Smits and the Gibbon Foundation. Nyaru Menteng was built for 100 orang utans, at this moment there are more than 632 !! and almost every day the rescue teams have to go out to rescue more and more !
Visit http://www.savetheorangutan.org.uk to find out more about what BOS is doing.
By the way: it’s ok to use my photo’s. Its important to let the world know whats happening out there !
HELP TO SAVE THE ORANGUTANS, ONE OF OUR CLOSEST RELATIVES !
Thanks so much for your help Jean. I’ve updated the information by quoting you from within the post.
You have some remarkable photos Jean! It’s wonderful so see your involvement for this cause.
I’ve always been in love with Orangutans… not human, butt the real ones… *giggles*
They are sooo darn cute. So alike humans. So adorable eyes. And how anyone can be cruel to any animal is beyond my imagination…. *sigh*
Follow Lifecruiser 13 Secret Steps
It’s hard to fathom the cruelty Lifecruiser, but far more are dying than surviving.
There’s so much emotion behind those eyes and faces … you can’t help but see it if you watch the videos.
Excellent post Deborah !!!!
and an amazing selection of photos…….such a poignant story!!!!
Thanks Kim! I was fortunate to find some amateur phtographers that possess incredible skills.
Here’s hoping it helps to create awareness.
some people have a very2 black heart…no need to kill that orang utans but catch them and send to zoo…why must kill them..
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I am 14 and doing a report on orangutans for my SOSE project. I now want to be an orangutan carer when I leave school because it looks to be one of the most fulfilling jobs in the world. I am also going to go to the local supermarket and ask them to raise awareness on just how many products we use every day the contain Palm Oil. Maybe there is hope for the orangutans yet… Love the videos thank you, it helped heaps with my report.