Animal rescuers have staged a daring operation to tranquilise and trap an endangered orangutan in Indonesian Borneo and transport it to safety.
Deforestation on the southeast Asian island has meant the orangutan, named Abun, has started to lose his home in the Sungai Putri Forest.
This caused Abun to become aggressive, increasingly coming into contact with farmers and stealing their sugarcane and banana plants to survive.
Rescuers from International Animal Rescue (IAR) were forced to step in and save the orangutan before he hurt himself, or was attacked by villagers.
Approximately half of the population of orangutans have disappeared in this area predominately due to deforestation caused by palm oil production.
Organisations like IAR say orangutans here are under serious threat – left without homes they starve, are killed and can be illegally sold as pets or scientific experiments.
Video shows just one of the instances when the IAR team relocates an orangutan.
They must put the animal to sleep, shooting it with an anaesthetic dart, before transporting it safety into a large metal cage that’s filled with leaves.
The orangutan is struck in the behind with an anaesthetic dart. This will allow the animal to be relocated to a safer environment
The orangutan named Abun had become increasingly aggressive with farmers as his home around the Sungai Putri Forest had begun to disappear
Rescuers prepare a net to catch the orangutan after it has been shot with the anaesthetic dart
The orangutan is carefully held in the net. He will soon be transported to a safer area
IAR explains that rescuing an orangutan is a challenge and only done if there are no other options for it in its natural habitat.
The organisation works in collaboration with local conversation agencies in Indonesia, who are alerted to the location of orangutans in need of rescue.
A team of experts then gets sent to the location to access the situation, determining whether the animal can be relocated elsewhere in the forest, or else brought back to a rehabilitation centre run by the IAR.
A microchip is also inserted into the orangutan’s neck so that it can be identified in the future.
The orangutan is carefully captured by the rescuers and held in the net. A microchip is inserted into the back of its neck so that it can be identified in the future
Rescuers take the orangutan to the 4×4 inside of a protective cage that’s filled with leaves
The orangutan has been tranquilised and rescuers prepare to transport the animal to a new location
Rescuers take the orangutan to a safe Conservation Centre for rehabilitation
Sumber : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4818770/Animal-rescuers-save-endangered-orangutan-Indonesia.html
