They are malnourished and without strength, the tragedy of the orangutans of Indonesia and Malaysia who are starving because of the palm plantations, never ends. They are in constant risk of extinction due to deforestation and the consequent disappearance of their natural habitat.
They are malnourished and without strength, the tragedy of the orangutans of Indonesia and Malaysia who are starving because of the palm plantations, never ends. They are in constant risk of extinction due to deforestation and the consequent disappearance of their natural habitat.
How can we forget Hope, the orangutan mother hit by 74 pellets fired with air rifles, some of which seriously injured her eyes, making her blind? However, her story is not an isolated case. Around the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the landscape has completely transformed: charred trunks, cut down to make room for palm oil plantations which, as we know, are found in many food products and more. Thus the orangutans, the so-called people of the forest as well as their habitat are losing dignity and identity.
“Twenty-four thousand hectares of trees have been cleared away, only a couple of trees left. So the orangutan looks around and thinks, 'What happened to my forest?' ”Says Ian Singleton, director of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program.
Indonesia and Malaysia supply the world with over 80% of palm oil used in food, cosmetics, biofuels and much more, and even though Indonesia has stopped issuing new licenses, the situation is by no means rosy. Indeed, it is out of control amidst dangerous carbon emissions and habitat dwindling, but the global appetite for palm oil is still voracious.
Since 2012, they have been saved over 170 orangutans injured. Between 1999 and 2015, the orangutan population on the island of Borneo decreased by over 100.
Another 100 are in Borneo, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature, but there are less than 14 in Sumatra. An alarming number because in nature the orangutan mother usually lets a lot of time pass between one pregnancy and the next, even eight or nine years. Scientists fear the population is in one deadly spiral.
Orangutans are dying of malnutrition, as a result of the fires that are ignited to make room for plantations. They are desperate for food, they ransack villages and are very often shot by the local population, just as it happened to Hope that she will never see her forest again.
Read also:
- The orphaned cub of orangutan found alone in the forest burned for palm oil
- Chocolate, the orphaned puppy who reminds us of the consequences of palm oil
Dominella Trunfio
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