A Tapanuli orangutan was found wounded and malnourished on a plantation near the Batang Toru ecosystem in South Tapanuli, North Sumatra, on Thursday, marking what local authorities claim is the first indication of conflict between humans and the newly discovered species in the area.

The North Sumatra Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) and the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) discovered the injured male orangutan, believed to be about 30 years old, with wounds to the face and back on a plantation in Aek Batang Paya village, Sipirok subdistrict.

“The Tapanuli orangutan found with wounds and malnourishment was the first case we have handled since the species was first discovered by scientists two years ago,” BKSDA North Sumatra head Hotmauli Sianturi told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Hotmauli said the orangutan was in a critical condition after sustaining injuries thought to be caused by a blunt object and was very thin purportedly because of a lack of proper nutrition.

The orangutan is currently receiving treatment at the orangutan quarantine and rehabilitation center in Batu Mbelin, Sibolangit subdistrict, Deli Serdang regency, North Sumatra, she said.

Hotmauli went on to say that it was common for orangutans, whose damaged habitat had left them with no food supply, to enter plantation areas during the durian and petai (stink bean) season to look for food.

Such a condition, she alleged, could lead to conflicts between the orangutans and residents, who wanted to keep the former off their plantations.

“To prevent more orangutans from being injured, we have deployed officers to monitor Tapanuli orangutans’ presence in community plantations located near the Batang Toru ecosystem,” Hotmauli said.

Environmental experts and activists have raised concerns that the orangutan may have fled its habitat because of infrastructure development around the Batang Toru ecosystem, the only known habitat of the Tapanuli orangutans. Tapanuli orangutans, considered the world’s rarest big ape, are estimated to number only about 800.

Hotmauli said the orangutan was in a critical condition after sustaining injuries, thought to be caused by a blunt object, and was very thin purportedly because of a lack of proper nutrition.

Among the concerns of experts and activists is the ongoing construction of the controversial Batang Toru hydropower plant, which is expected to begin operations by energy company PT North Sumatra Hydro Energy (NSHE) in 2022. NSHE has claimed that the power plant is environmentally friendly as it will not inundate much of the area and it has reiterated in several publications that it is committed to orangutan conservation.

Environmentalists, however, remain unconvinced. The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) filed a lawsuit against the project in late 2018 as experts from various local and foreign universities regarded the 510-megawatt plant to be the “death knell” for the Tapanuli orangutan. In March, the Medan State Administrative Court rejected the lawsuit, but Walhi filed an appeal as a response.

Jatna Supriatna, a biological conservation scientist at the University of Indonesia, said that further anthropology forensic investigation was needed to prove that the injuries were indeed caused by a human-ape conflict. "Orangutans are commonly killed in conflicts. If they're malnourished, then it is probably because their habitat could not meet their nutrition needs or there is insufficient food supply there," Jatna said

Biologist Serge Wich of Liverpool John Moores University, who previously testified during a hearing in Walhi’s lawsuit, said it was difficult to confirm that the activities of the power plant had forced the injured orangutan into the community area. However, forest loss could prompt such a move.

“If you examine where the orangutan has been found and where the forest loss for the hydroelectric plant has occurred one can see that they are not far from each other. That makes it very likely that the orangutan has lost part of its home range and that therefore it is going into non-forest areas to look for food,” Wich told the Post by email on Friday.

In the email, Wich provided Planet Labs satellite images showing the dam’s progress from June 2017 to August 2018, including forest clearance and road development for access.

The Environment and Forestry Ministry’s director for biodiversity conservation, Indra Exploitasia, said the ministry would monitor all forms of development, not just the power plant construction, by taking into account the animal distribution map.

“We have also ordered NSHE as the operator of the hydropower plant to improve biodiversity management around the plant,” she said.

NSHE communications and external affairs director Firman Taufick condemned the injuries sustained by the orangutan, noting the need for all parties, not only the government and the private sector, to protect the critically endangered species.

As part of its conservation efforts, Firman said the company had carried out community development programs meant to train and formed conservation groups based on local wisdom.

He said the company had begun the construction of bridges to connect orangutans’ fragmented habitat and the restoration of logged forests.

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