WSPA supports Balikpapan Orangutan Society

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is helping to protect endangered species in yet another major disaster. WSPA has supported the vital work of the Balikpapan Orangutan Society (BOS) for the past four years. The BOS are the fund-raising organisation in Borneo who are working with the Wanariset Orang-utan Rescue Centre.

Since late 1997, forest fires started by farmers have raged out of control in Borneo, burning some 625,000 acres of forest land in East Kalimantan to the ground. Tragically this land is not only a significant portion of the world's remaining virgin forests but also prime habitat for the endangered orang-utans. Before the fires began, there were an estimated 26,000 orang-utans remaining in the wild. Habitat loss, fragmentation from logging and poaching account for a loss of up to 50% of the entire wild orang-utan population between 1980 and 1990. Now the fires are destroying much of the remaining habitat and there has been an escalation in the killing of adult orang-utans by fearful farmers, both for food, and in protection of their crops from the hungry animals. "The tragedy of this disaster is coupled by acts of cruelty," International Projects Director John Walsh explained. "We have reports of orang-utans being killed by farmers when they flee for the fields. This fear of orang-utans not only takes the lives of adult animals but has left behind orphaned youngsters. WSPA is assisting with the care of many orang-utans, some badly burned, who would not survive without human intervention."

It has long been the custom 'though against the law' for Indonesia's farmers and logging concessions to clear their cropping debris by setting fire to the fields and allowing the monsoons to extinguish the flames. Satellite images of the Indonesian fires overlap precisely with logging and farming areas. The expected monsoons did not come. An unseasonal 'El Nino' warming in the South Pacific halted the rains, and the farmers' fires raged out of control. Since then, two million acres of prime forest habitat in Borneo and Sumatra have been destroyed.

WSPA is funding the Orangutan Rehabilitation Project at the Wanariset forestry Station in Borneo. During the past two years we have provided the aid necessary to successfully rehabilitate and release more than 100 orang-utans. Tragically, the entire 3,500 hectare Wanariset research forest surrounding the rehabilitation centre has now been destroyed. This land had been among the richest forests in the world and was home to hundreds of plants and animal species, including the orang-utan. Fortunately, the orang-utan rehabilitation centre was protected by a wall built to keep curious people away. The 13 foot high wall was only half finished when the fires struck, but it was tall enough to save the centre from destruction. Despite this small good fortune, the situation is still desperate. Fires have now reached the Sungai Wain protected forest where orang-utans rehabilitated during the last two years were released. We need to act quickly to save these animals whose lives once again depend on our quick intervention. Willie Smits, Project Director of theWanariset Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre, explained, "In the last eight months, we have confiscated and ereceived 178 orang-utans. This number does not include the many orang-utans we rescued from the burned forest and released insafe areas. This means that for the many years to come during which we have to take care of these new orang-utans until their release, we are committing ourselves to raising almost one million dollars. I can only hope that we can keep up our effort."

WSPA will also continue to send funds to the Balikpapan Orangutan Society to help with more confiscations of illegally held orang-utans, and also for their veterinary care.