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kittymowmow on July 14th, 2008
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The Sumatran orang-utan is now in such serious decline that it will take extraordinary efforts to prevent it becoming the first great ape species to become extinct.
The warning emerges from a compilation of a major orang-utan survey in 2004 together with the latest data available on populations in its forest habitat in Sumatra and Borneo.
The new analysis is based on the loss of forest land on both islands since the last survey and confirms that only about 6,500 orangu-tans remain in Sumatra.
Click here for the full article.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I love the kitty cuttin it up on the tables…
Check out the Orangutan Outreach website: http://redapes.org
Maybe adopt one of our babies???
Richard Zimmerman
Director, Orangutan Outreach
Reach out and save the orangutans!
July 20th, 2008 at 9:22 am
It is often asked, “How many orangutans are left?” The numbers themselves do not matter. What matters is that the rate of decline is increasing, and unless something is done, the wild orangutan will go extinct. Once remaining populations become so small and fragmented, there will be no way to recover the species, as these small populations will be genetically unviable in the long run.
What also matters is the welfare angle of this decline 5000 are dying unnaturally–either from starvation as a result of habitat destruction or from human-wildlife conflict. Working with orangutans for 14 years now, I see them as individuals capable of emotions and pain. The loss of just one of these is heartbreaking. 5000 is genocide.
We have a moral obligation to save these sentient, intelligent cousins of ours from this brutality. I do not subscribe to the view that we need to keep orangutan numbers up so our children have a chance to see them in the wild. Orangutans do not exist for our benefit. They themselves have a right to life, regardless of whether we get the added benefit of gazing upon them in their world one day.
The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation is the largest primate rescue project in the world. We look after close to 1000 rescued orangutans presently, and have rescued and released more than 1000 others so far. We are the only organisation actively rescuing the wild orangutans from certain death in these oil-palm plantations. 2 weeks ago we released a further 25 wild orangutans rescued from oil-palm plantations into a remote protected forest in the north of Central Kalimantan. This release site could potentially support more than 1000 orangutans, making it a viable population. BOS also manages the Mawas Reserve, a forest of 360,000 hectares, home to some 3500 wild orangutans. If BOS can continue to protect populations like those in our release site and in Mawas, we can prevent the extinction of the orangutan in the wild. Find out more at http://www.savetheorangutan.co.uk.
Michelle Desilets
Founding Director
Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation UK
(Partner to Orangutan Outreach above)
July 25th, 2008 at 8:58 am
Hi Richard,
I really liked the DJ kitty too, but I had to make some changes in the website so DJ kitty is gone now.
Maybe I can bring him back another time.
Thanks for passing on the word about Orangutan Outreach. Keep us posted about how we can help!
July 29th, 2008 at 7:12 am
Hi Michelle,
Thank you for your comment. I very much agree with this: “Orangutans do not exist for our benefit. They themselves have a right to life, regardless of whether we get the added benefit of gazing upon them in their world one day.”
Please feel free to send me any information you would like me to pass on about how Kitty Mowmow’s Animal Expo’s readers can help orangutans, and please keep us updated on the activities of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation and Orangutan Outreach.