Through last month, Indonesian wildlife conservation NGO YIARI and government conservation officials recovered seven critically endangered Bornean orangutans from wildfires raging across the island.One of the orangutans died from smoke exposure, while others were taken some to YIARI’s rehabilitation center and some released others into a nearby national park.A strengthening El Niño threatens to fuel major fires across Indonesia’s peatlands and mineral soils during this year’s dry season.YIARI workers in Ketapang district, a low-lying peatland area in Borneo’s West Kalimantan province, remain on high alert for orangutans stranded or injured by wildfires.
BANJARMASIN, Indonesia — As a strengthening El Niño fuels wildfires across much of Indonesia, NGO and government conservationists are at work in forests here trying to save an increasing number of orangutans from burning landscapes.
“Seven individuals were rescued through August,” said Heribertus Suciadi, spokesperson for Yayasan International Animal Rescue Indonesia (YIARI), a Borneo-based NGO working to establish and maintain sustainable orangutan populations.
The Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) is one of three orangutan species in the world, and the only one found on the island of Borneo. All three species of orangutan are critically endangered and native to Indonesia. The Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) and Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) are both found on the island of Sumatra.
