Orangutans cling on to last remaining tree as bulldozers destroy their home

Special branch ... one of the orangutans in the last remaining tress in Indonesian forest

 

Caters News Agency

By BEN PERRIN

Published: 06th April 2013

THIS terrified orangutan clings tightly to a tree after its forest home was destroyed by bulldozers.

A scared baby gripping its mum's back and a heavily pregnant ape were also caught up in the horrific ordeal.
They cowered up trees in part of the Borneo rainforest, which was brutally cleared to make way for a money-spinning palm oil plantation.

Exhausted ... this orangutan is so weak it has to cling onto the back of a rescue worker

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The starving apes were separately searching for food and had started eating bark as they hid.
They were later all rescued from the brink of death by UK charity International Animal Rescue (IAR) and the forestry department in Ketapang, West Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, after an oil plant company sought their help.
Last night (Sat) Karmele Llano Sanchez, the executive director of IAR Indonesia, said: "We were appalled at the condition of these orangutans.
"All of them had gone through long periods of starvation before we rescued them.

Safe and sound ... an orangutan is rescued

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"The area where they were found was too small to provide them with sufficient food because the company had cleared most of the forest."
IAR chief executive Alan Knight said: "It is heartbreaking to see the state of these animals.

"They are weak from hunger and an increasingly desperate search for food. The only positive note is that, on this occasion, rather than chasing them away or killing them, the palm oil company did the right thing and contacted us so we could move them to a place of safety."

Stripped ... the forest which was the organgutan's home

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 Source:  http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4876264/Orangutans-cling-on-to-last-remaining-tree.html