Orangutan mother and baby rescued from Borneo haze

Indonesian conservation officials rescued a mother orangutan and her baby from wildfire smoke in Central Kalimantan on Borneo, officials said Thursday.

Muriansyah, a local conservation agency official, said officials found the mother on Wednesday after a tip-off that she was clinging to the top of a tree near burned peatland. Rescuers discovered during the operation that she was carrying a baby.

Officials named the mother Raya, after a nearby street where she was found, and named her one-year-old daughter Rayu. Muriansyah estimated the mother was 20 years old.

Muriansyah said recently burned ground and darkness complicated the nighttime rescue. A preliminary veterinary check found the orangutans were not injured and had not been seriously affected by smoke.

Heriyanto, a Central Kalimantan natural resources and conservation agency official, said the animals were taken to a clinic for observation and would be released into the wild if healthy.

Indonesia has been battling wildfires for weeks, with haze affecting parts of Borneo and Sumatra and drifting to Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. Authorities in West Kalimantan rescued at least seven orangutans from wildfire-affected areas last month.

A 2016 government survey estimated Borneo's orangutan population at about 57,000.