Indonesian authorities and conservationists released eight critically endangered Bornean orangutans into the Batu Nyambu protected forest reserve on Friday after rescuing the apes from intense summer wildfires. The relocation involved a six-hour car journey, a boat ride, and a trek on foot to give the animals a chance to return to nature.
Eight orangutans—comprising three mothers, their three offspring, and two juvenile males—have found a new start in the wild after escaping severe blazes that tore through Borneo’s forests in August and September. Indonesian wildlife authorities and the conservation group International Animal Rescue Indonesia (Yiari) carried out the release in the west of the island, with Reuters noting the specific Sunday announcement by the government and the Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI) foundation.
Batu Nyambu Forest Reserve Operation
The journey to the Batu Nyambu protected forest reserve required a grueling trek across West Kalimantan province. The operation took six hours by car, one hour by boat, and two hours on foot, with the orangutans transported in cages carried on bamboo poles.
According to International Animal Rescue Indonesia, transferring the eight orangutans to the Batu Nyambu protected forest should provide them with an opportunity to resume a wild existence.
Yiari selected the Batu Nyambu area because it offers abundant food and water sources alongside connectivity to wider forest tracts. Yiari’s Argitoe Ranting emphasized that the goal is ensuring the apes can genuinely survive in their natural habitat rather than simply shifting locations, while Yiari CEO Karmele Llano Sanchez called the release a necessary step given the immediacy of the fires and loss of food sources.
Fires, Plantations, and El Niño Pressures
The eight released apes were part of a broader emergency rescue that saved 46 critically endangered great apes during August and September. Government data recorded that more than 202,000 hectares burned between January and July, while independent data from the Nusantara Atlas project showed that some 896,000 hectares had burned by the end of August.
Jamartin Sihite, chairman of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, noted that a female Bornean orangutan named Novita was discovered grasping a nearly bare tree within the Katune forest located in Central Kalimantan province. Mr. Sihite said the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet suffered burns that were likely sustained when Novita crossed a burned area while trying to reach a tree.
Broader Population Decline in Borneo and Sumatra
According to the World Wildlife Fund, orangutans are critically endangered great apes found wild only on Borneo and Sumatra, with Indonesia home to all three recognized species. Historic numbers exceeding 230,000 a century ago have plunged to roughly 104,000 surviving across both islands, battered by a combination of deforestation, poaching, and recurring wildfires. The International Union for Conservation of Nature warned last month that wildfires were burning in habitats containing a substantial portion of the island’s orangutan population.
