Fire season on Borneo leaves orangutans stranded in plantations as rescuers race to move them

The story

Wildfires sweeping parts of Indonesian Borneo this season have pushed one of the world's most threatened apes into a tight corner, and rescue teams have been busy. Wildlife officials in West Kalimantan say at least 46 Bornean orangutans were rescued from burning habitat between August and October 9, working alongside the conservation group IAR Indonesia. Many were found cut off in plantations, with only scattered trees left and little to eat after fire broke up the forest around them. One mother and her baby were found hanging on in a patch of acacia trees about 400 square meters in size, hemmed in on every side by oil palm. Another pair was moved out of Tempurukan Village in Ketapang on September 3 as the flames crept closer. Eight of the rescued apes, three mothers with their young and two juvenile males, passed health checks and were released in early October into Batu Nyambu Protection Forest, a reserve of roughly 23,000 hectares in Ketapang that connects with other protected land. Not every rescue has ended well. A female known as Novita, found clinging to a nearly bare tree in thick smoke, is still being treated, and a rescued male named Sampurna died shortly after he was found. Officials say finding safe places to put the animals is now the hardest part of the job, as each fire season eats into what forest is left.