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Orangutan finds home in protected forest
Kindly treated: Volunteers from the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation check on an orangutan, after immobilizing it with a tranquilizer dart, in Nehas Liah Bing village, Muara Wahau district, East Kutai regency, East Kalimantan
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Kindly treated: Volunteers from the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation check on an orangutan, after immobilizing it with a tranquilizer dart, in Nehas Liah Bing village, Muara Wahau district, East Kutai regency, East Kalimantan. The orangutan was later relocated to the Wehea protected forest on Friday.(Courtesy of Chris Ringgi) (Courtesy of Chris Ringgi)
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span class="caption">Kindly treated: Volunteers from the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation check on an orangutan, after immobilizing it with a tranquilizer dart, in Nehas Liah Bing village, Muara Wahau district, East Kutai regency, East Kalimantan. The orangutan was later relocated to the Wehea protected forest on Friday.(Courtesy of Chris Ringgi)
An orangutan recently trapped on a oil palm farm in Nehas Liah Bing village in Muara Wahau district, East Kutai regency, East Kalimantan, around 500 kilometers north of Balikpapan, was relocated to the Wehea protected forest on Friday.
Members of a team from the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) left their facility in Samboja, located 60 km north of Balikpapan, to go to the location specifically to relocate the orangutan.
'As the Wehea protected forest is located only around 70 km from here, we will relocate the orangutan there,' said Yatim, a Petkueq Mehuey staff member and Wehea protected forest keeper.
The orangutan was found sleeping in a durian tree on a farm owned by Jum Lehat. It was eventually lured to climb down from the tree and was paralyzed with a tranquilizer dart.
After a thorough examination by the BOSF team, the orangutan was placed in a cage and the team immediately left for the protected forest.
The female orangutan is estimated to be around 12 to 13 years old and weighed 45 kilograms.
Resident Paul Pitoy, who was the first person in Nehas Liah Bing to report the presence of the orangutan, expressed gratitude to the BOSF team.
'May the orangutan get a better and more comfortable place in the forest,' Pitoy said.
It has been roaming about on Pitoy's farm for two days. Besides eating a whole jackfruit, it also devoured the buds on oil palm trees.
The BOSF team's arrival was coordinated between Petkueq Meheuy, the Wehea Traditional Council, the Nature Conservancy and the East Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA).
According to Petkueq Mehuey data, a number of other orangutans are often seen around residents' farms.
'We will think about ways to save them too,' said Yatim.
On the other hand, Yatim added that Pitoy's farm was apparently located within the foraging range of the animal.
The farm borders on a few forest corridors as well as fruit trees, such as jackfruit, breadfruit and guava, while the others have crops grown by farmers. The orangutans are attracted to the fruit trees.
Orangutans daily roam the forest within a certain range to seek food. In the afternoon, they seek a safe tree to sleep in. 'The orangutan was still on our farm on Wednesday until 4:30 p.m.,' said Pitoy.
On a separate occasion, an orangutan researcher from Samarinda's Mulawarman University, Yaya Rayadin, said hundreds of orangutans were still trapped on oil palm plantations and mining concessions as well as in industrial forests (HTI) in East Kalimantan.
'Assuming that 10 orangutans are found on a single concession, be it oil palm and mining concessions or HTI, imagine how many concessions there are in East Kalimantan?' asked Yaya.
According to him, the most responsible party is the concession company in the event of orangutans being trapped on a plantation.
'The company itself is solely responsible, because it is their working area,' said Yaya.
Special skills are needed to catch an orangutan trapped in a concession area because it is no easy task to capture the animal, which is known to be very strong.
Yaya proposed that every company in East Kalimantan form an orangutan saving team. Currently, among the companies equipped with such teams is the Sinarmas Group.
He hoped there would no longer be stories about the slaughter of orangutans by companies with the establishment of an orangutan rescuing team by every company.
