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Orphaned Baby Orangutan Hugs The Man Who Rescued Him

Orphaned Baby Orangutan Hugs The Man Who Rescued Him

This one was rescued, but many others aren't

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

Workers at a plantation have rescued a baby orangutan that they found on the premises. The young ape was found weeping for his mother - who is presumed to be dead - in a bush by concerned workers at an oil palm plantation in West Borneo.

At first, the workers assumed that his mother would come back to claim him, but then grew more and more concerned when they returned the following day to find that he was still where he was, and still crying.

Moved by his plight, they picked him up and reported the discovery to their manager. After that, a team from the International Animal Rescue, accompanied by the Natural Resources Conservation Centre travelled in from another part of the country to collect him.

Caters

The workers from the plantation even gave him a name, Rahman, after the guy who discovered him in the bushes, but they were happy to hand him over to the proper authorities.

Rahman is a Bornean Orangutan and is critically endangered, their habitation is being badly damaged, in part, by oil palm plantations, but also by hunting, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. In fact, it's become such as issue that conservation experts reckon that since 1950 the number of orangutans has dropped by around 60%.

Caters

Alan Knight OBE, the CEO of International Animal Rescue, said: "It's a tragedy to find a baby orangutan without its mother, alone, vulnerable and distressed. Rahman should have been in his mother's care for the next six or seven years of his life.

"Instead, she is nowhere to be found. It's highly likely that she has been killed as yet another victim of hunters or agricultural workers protecting their crops.

"Thankfully he is in safe hands now and will be given expert treatment and care at our centre which is currently home to 109 rescued orangutans."

Caters

Indonesia is the world's largest producer of palm oil, producing more than 20m tonnes every year. It is used for everything from cooking to wound care in certain places.

However, conservation charities and environmentalists are hugely concerned about the amount of destruction of animal habitats that are caused by the planting of oil palms.

The forest clearances destroy the natural home of some of the world's most endangered creatures like the orangutan, as well as the Bornean Elephant, and the Sumatran tiger.

Caters

Luckily, this orangutan was saved, but many others might not be if things don't change.

Featured Image Credit: Caters

Topics: indonesia, Baby, Animals