Eight Borneo orangutans have been freed back into the wild after being taken into captivity for their safety when wildfires raged through the region in the summer.
Three mothers, their three offspring and two juvenile males were released into the Batu Nyambu protected forest reserve in the west of Borneo, International Animal Rescue Indonesia (YIARI) and the forestry ministry said. The relocation operation involved six hours by car, one hour by boat and two hours on foot, with the orangutans carried in cages on bamboo poles.
A long journey back to living naturally
Among those released were Mama Lifa and her baby Lifa, rescued in mid-September after their habitat was degraded by wildfires and food sources ran out; Mama Novi and her baby Novi; Mama Nopi and her baby Nopi; and two juvenile males, Naufal and Nopan, rescued in early September from a coconut and rubber plantation.
“Their relocation to Batu Nyambu protected forest is expected to give the eight orangutans a chance to return to living naturally,” YIARI said in a statement. YIARI chief executive Karmele Llano Sanchez called the relocation “a necessary step.”
46 rescued from the fires
Indonesian authorities rescued 46 critically endangered great apes from wildfires between August and September this year. Another mother and baby, Mama Man and her baby Man, found living in a plantation area beside a small patch of forest, were being monitored.
For the eight released at Batu Nyambu, the car, boat and foot journey ended where it should: in the forest, free.
