Indonesia fires: six orangutans rescued on Borneo

Six orangutans, including two nursing infants, have been rescued from fires on Borneo in the past week, Indonesian authorities and rescuers said Thursday, bringing the total to 15 in a month.

The apes were saved from plantations in rural West Kalimantan province, on the Indonesian part of the island, after fires cut off access to their forest habitat, according to Indonesia's forestry ministry and the YIARI wildlife rehabilitation foundation.

The ministry and YIARI said a large fire was burning about 200 metres from where the critically endangered primates were found. They said the orangutans had no safe route back to their habitat and could only move between plantations, increasing the risk of contact and conflict with people.

Four orangutans were rescued on Friday with help from residents and plantation workers. Another mother and infant were rescued on Tuesday. Rescuers anaesthetised the animals to reduce stress and the risk of injury, and all six were taken to YIARI's rehabilitation centre in Ketapang.

Orangutans are found naturally on Borneo and Sumatra, areas hit by wildfires that have burned large areas and sent haze across parts of the region.

The Indonesian government said more than 202,000 hectares burned nationwide between January and July, while figures for August have not yet been released. The Nusantara Atlas project on Thursday estimated 895,657 hectares had burned, including August.

The European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said last week that haze emitted by the fires was the worst recorded for any August in 24 years. Greenpeace, using government data, estimated that about 35 million people in Indonesia are exposed to toxic haze.

Indonesia's dry season usually runs from July to October, and the supplied account said it has been made worse this year by a strong El Nino episode.

National disaster mitigation agency spokesman Berton Panjaitan said about 43,000 firefighters had been deployed to combat the blazes. He said a Japanese navy ship had arrived in West Kalimantan with three helicopters to support water-bombing efforts.