Orangutan and baby rescued from snare in Indonesia

Indonesian conservation workers rescued a female orangutan and her baby after they were found caught in rope on Borneo, a conservation official said Sunday.

The female orangutan, named Gadis and aged about 25, and her 10-month-old son, Garis, were found early Friday near a village in Central Kalimantan province, on the Indonesian part of Borneo.

Local conservation official Muriansyah told AFP that ropes were tied to Gadis's upper right arm and lower left arm and had torn deeply into her flesh. He said the ropes appeared to have been set as a wild boar snare trap.

Both orangutans were receiving treatment at the Orangutan Foundation International clinic near the village of Pangkalan Bun.

Wild boar hunting with rope snares is legal and common in parts of Indonesia as a pest-control measure to protect crops, but it is illegal inside protected forests or national parks. Officials have warned that careless placement of snares near wildlife areas can trap endangered animals including sun bears and orangutans.

Dozens of orangutans have also been rescued in recent weeks from wildfires burning across Indonesia. Two more were released in Ketapang, West Kalimantan, on Saturday after being rescued from an oil palm plantation.

Orangutans are critically endangered. Conservation group WWF says about 120,000 remain in the wild in Borneo and Sumatra, about half the number from a century ago. The International Union for Conservation of Nature said last month that fires were burning in habitats containing 52 percent of Borneo's orangutan population.