A horrific discovery in West Borneo Indonesia was recently made when two orangutan were rescued from a fire in what was their habitat, their only home. Not only were the apes, named Bara & Arang by their rescuers, International Animal Rescue   traumatized by the fire but one simian had actually been shot, “a bullet still lodged in its face.”

Most of the fires had been deliberately set by a company confiscating the land (from the wildlife inhabiting it) and clearing it for yet another palm oil plantation. Fires are the most efficient way accomplish that . Those humans wouldn’t let a little thing like the sanctity of a wildlife habitat stand in their way.

The tragedy is the suffering and eminent extinction of our wildlife; our elephants, our orangutans. Deforestation destroys so much more than a expanse of land.  And for what?

There is good news in that the two rescued orangutan, Bara & Arang, are receiving excellent veterinary care. There is hope for them thanks to all of the kind humans at International Animal Rescue and other colleagues in their field .

As to their simian family and our Borneo elephants in Indonesia, if this practice of rampant deforestation for the production of palm oil is to continue, their prognosis is grim.

The following is a photo essay on the Destruction of Wildlife Habitat

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resources: For photos of Bara and Arang & the rest of the story see “Harrowing moment orangutan with a BULLET in its face is discovered clinging to one of the few trees left in Indonesia forest fire” by Phoebe Eckersley For Mailonline, The Daily Mail.

International Animal Rescue Orangutan Rescue page

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Images: CC Flickr: by niadahoam.de : Borneo pygmy elephants enjoying the river in their natural habitat; all others by Rainforest Action Network : Palm Oil Rainforest Destruction Chart, Child’s letter to stop Palm Oil Rainforest Destruction, orangutan mama & baby walking away in forest, Palm Oil Rainforest Destruction smoke, orangutan family huddling together, palm oil fruit bunches harvested from surrounding palm oil plantation 

Note: None of images of the orangutans shown on ESH are of Bara and Arang, see their photos on The Daily Mail