Inside the mission to save critically endangered orangutans from fire

Inside the mission to save orangutans from raging fires The lush mountainous rainforests of West Kalimantan are a crucial habitat for critically endangered Bornean orangutans, but they are now the epicentre of Indonesia's catastrophic fire season. On the fringes of a national park in Indonesian Borneo, a team of rangers and animal rescuers snake their way through the bush. Dry leaves crunch underfoot as green foliage gives way to hectares of burnt land. A thick haze of smoke fills the air as nearby peatland and forest fires continue to rage. The rangers have been told a Bornean orangutan has become stuck in this tiny refuge of forest in the Kayong Utara regency of West Kalimantan province, surrounded by plantations and fields of ash. They send up a drone to survey the treetops when they hear rustling from above. An orange figure curiously peers down. An even smaller orange figure clings tightly to its chest. The team makes an assessment. With the encroaching fire threat and the limited space and food for the orangutan mother and its baby, they need to rescue it. Immediately. "The areas around here still have active burning," says Dr Komara, a renowned wildlife veterinarian with Indonesian conservation foundation YIARI who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name. "The fires could continue to expand and effectively trap the orangutans in one place, or they could perish." He takes out an air rifle loaded with a sedative dart and pulls the trigger, taking care not to hit the baby. Below the trees, rescuers unfurl a large net to catch the pair. A team of veterinarians provide the mother with fluids and oxygen, checking her weight and hydration. Despite being caught up by an encroaching fire, they're both OK. While waiting for the mother to wake before driving the pair to a sanctuary, the rangers and the nearby residents come up with a name. The baby will be called Noni. Its mother, Mama Noni. Super El Niño and arson worsening forest fires The lush mountainous rainforests of West Kalimantan are a crucial habitat for critically endangered Bornean orangutans, but in recent months they have been at the epicentre of Indonesia's catastrophic fire season. A super El Niño weather pattern is turbocharging drought and fire conditions across Indonesia, burning hundreds of thousands of hectares in just a few months. The Central Government says more than 200,000 hectares were burnt from January to July but environmental groups say the true total is much higher; Nusantara Atlas estimates almost 900,000 hectares were burnt from January to the end of August. On Borneo island it is widely understood that many of the fires are being deliberately lit to clear land for palm oil plantations. As a result the orangutans' habitat is shrinking, and what is left of it is being smothered by a thick haze of smoke. "We as humans can escape the toxic thick smoke, move to somewhere else, or put a mask on," said YIARI chief executive and primatologist Dr Karmele Llano Sánchez. "Orangutans have nowhere, no way to save themselves from this toxic haze. "I wouldn't be surprised if there were more orangutans suffering from respiratory illnesses." Most distressing rescues in decades for those on the ground So far this fire season, YIARI has rescued at least 15 orangutans, with fires destroying their habitats and forcing the critically endangered apes closer to villages and plantations. One of those orangutans, an adult male named Sampurna, was found on a community plantation suffering from respiratory problems and hypoxia after inhaling forest fire smoke. Even with medical treatment, Sampurna died days later. Dr Sánchez, who was there, said the team was "very distressed". "In 20 years of rescuing animals I've seen a lot of tough stuff … but that rescue was especially hardcore," she said. "Seeing a big wild male orangutan with the strength that they have, just crawling on the ground without enough oxygen and not being able to breathe was really tough." Although Dr Sánchez says the population of critically endangered Orangutans has stabilised in Borneo, she said some populations live in isolated patches of forest that are vulnerable to being burnt down. "When the fires get to those small patches, the orangutans are forced to enter villages, enter plantations," she said. Many on the ground describe the catastrophe as rivalling previous, horrific fire seasons in the country — including Indonesia's worst fire season in 2015, which burnt more than 2 million hectares in about four months. That too was supercharged by a Super El Nino event. Dr Sánchez says in 2015, the team rescued orangutans that were starving. "This time, we've tried to come a little bit earlier, whenever we get the information … because we don't want to just rescue them when they are already very emaciated or in poor condition," she says. Burnt land immediately replaced with palm oil plantations Throughout the fire season more than 100 people have been arrested across Indonesia on suspicion of deliberately lighting fires. Several companies are also being investigated, or have been sanctioned, for lighting fires for land clearing. Less than 500 metres from where Noni and Mama Noni were rescued, the ABC saw evidence oil palms had been planted in a field that had recently been cleared by fire. "I can't say whether (the fire) was intentional or not, but as you could see from your drone footage, the burnt land was immediately replanted with oil palms," YIARI's Heribertus Suciadi said. Dr Sánchez said that oil palm plantations continue to be one of the major threats to Orangutans in Kalimantan. "A lot of people are converting forest into oil palm plantations," she said. "It's more at the level of smaller farmers, but it is still the big industry of oil palm industry that is making a lot of profit from it." A village leader confirmed to the ABC that the oil palms had been planted after the fire passed through. He also said the land was purchased recently by a local businessman. This week, Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto said the government would act against companies and individuals caught deliberately lighting fires for plantations. "If necessary, we will immediately revoke all their permits, land use rights and so forth," he said. "This has gone too far. I want to know exactly who owns those corporations." On Wednesday, President Prabowo issued a presidential instruction banning land clearing by burning to strengthen enforcement of a land-burning ban. He said he’d asked the Ministry of Forestry to evaluate the situation. "I am also interested in the point about areas that immediately after a fire are turned into plantations in such a very short time … this implies a deliberate act," he said. Exhausted teams 'waiting for the rain' Indonesia's Forestry Ministry has predicted that the Super El Niño will peak this month, but in areas like Ketapang, where YIARI's sanctuary lies, it's already been months without rain. The fires are notoriously challenging to put out, with many of them burning on peatland, a thick layer of decomposing organic matter where embers can burn and travel metres below ground. The ABC joined exhausted fire crews across West Kalimantan, with firefighters telling us they had been working near non-stop for months. "It's got to the point where it's very difficult for teams on the ground to try and put out the fires because there's no source of water," Dr Sánchez said. "It's a question of waiting for the rain and we have no idea how long that's going to take … it could be weeks, it could be months." At YIARI's sanctuary, the team are now looking after several orangutans before they aim to release them. Releasing them could prove challenging while fires continue to rage, as it's difficult to find suitable habitat for them. YIARI cares for dozens of orangutans, rehabilitating them after rescuing them from captivity. Some of those orangutans now have to be held in pens, as fires near their own property have forced YIARI to close some of their sanctuary grounds. YIARI's staff are exhausted too, performing rescue after rescue during a difficult season. But Dr Sánchez said the team would keep on going. "While there is still more we can lose, I think we need to keep our hopes up … every single orangutan population or population of any other wildlife is still worth the effort to protect them and conserve them." - Share options - Copy link - X (formerly Twitter)