Malaysia's orangutans in trouble
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian wildlife rangers are trying to rescue scores of displaced orangutans, gibbons and macaques believed to be roaming through oil palm plantations on Borneo island after the illegal destruction of their jungle habitats.
The endangered primates face starvation or capture by poachers after being squeezed out of a 200 hectares rainforest area cleared in May to create space for new plantations, said Stephen Gibin Sira, a wildlife officer in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state. "We are working hard to save each of them," Sira said.
Nine orangutans have been found by rangers in the past two weeks and sent to a wildlife sanctuary in Sabah state, where they appear to be adapting well to their new environment, Sira said.Officials believe more than 20 orangutans, besides unknown numbers of gibbons, pigtail macaques and wild boars, are wandering through plantations bordering the decimated jungles.
'We are working hard to save each of them'
Sira said the operators of a state-owned plantation firm that cleared the forest have claimed they were unaware of laws requiring them to submit a 30-day notice of their plan to the state wildlife department so that animals could be relocated.The Sabah government is considering whether the district managers of Borneo Samudera Plantation should be prosecuted under wildlife protection laws that provide for prison sentences of up to five years and fines up to 100Â 000 ringgit (R164Â 320), Sira said.
The company is also expected to bear the expenses of the rescue operation.
Rapid development, rampant logging and the spread of plantations have encroached on this south-east Asian country's once vast jungles in recent decades, devastating habitats of animals such as elephants, tigers, leopards and panthers.
Orangutans living in the wild are found exclusively on Borneo, which is shared by Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, as well as Indonesia's Sumatra island. Activists estimate there are fewer than 30Â 000 orangutans remaining worldwide, including those kept in zoos
The endangered primates face starvation or capture by poachers after being squeezed out of a 200 hectares rainforest area cleared in May to create space for new plantations, said Stephen Gibin Sira, a wildlife officer in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state. "We are working hard to save each of them," Sira said.
Nine orangutans have been found by rangers in the past two weeks and sent to a wildlife sanctuary in Sabah state, where they appear to be adapting well to their new environment, Sira said.Officials believe more than 20 orangutans, besides unknown numbers of gibbons, pigtail macaques and wild boars, are wandering through plantations bordering the decimated jungles.
'We are working hard to save each of them'
Sira said the operators of a state-owned plantation firm that cleared the forest have claimed they were unaware of laws requiring them to submit a 30-day notice of their plan to the state wildlife department so that animals could be relocated.The Sabah government is considering whether the district managers of Borneo Samudera Plantation should be prosecuted under wildlife protection laws that provide for prison sentences of up to five years and fines up to 100Â 000 ringgit (R164Â 320), Sira said.
The company is also expected to bear the expenses of the rescue operation.
Rapid development, rampant logging and the spread of plantations have encroached on this south-east Asian country's once vast jungles in recent decades, devastating habitats of animals such as elephants, tigers, leopards and panthers.
Orangutans living in the wild are found exclusively on Borneo, which is shared by Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, as well as Indonesia's Sumatra island. Activists estimate there are fewer than 30Â 000 orangutans remaining worldwide, including those kept in zoos
