Jakarta Globe – AFP, Dec 05, 2014
Jakarta. An orangutan has died after being found on a palm oil plantation in Kalimantan with 40 air-rifle pellets in her body, an animal protection group said on Friday.
Jakarta. An orangutan has died after being found on a palm oil plantation in Kalimantan with 40 air-rifle pellets in her body, an animal protection group said on Friday.
The adult
female was found on Wednesday in a critical condition inside a palm oil
plantation in the Central Kalimantan province, the Borneo Orangutan Survival
Foundation said in a press release.
The case is
the latest example of one of the critically-endangered primates being killed by
humans. Orangutans are faced with extinction from poaching and the rapid
destruction of their forest habitat, driven largely by land clearance for palm
oil and paper plantations.
“An X-ray
result showed 10 pellets in the head, 8 pellets in the left leg and pelvis, 18
pellets in the right leg and pelvis, as well as six pellets in the chest and
right hand,” it said.
The
primate’s right upper leg was also broken and maggots were found inside her
open wounds. She also very skinny due to malnutrition.
A team of
medics operated on the orangutan in an attempt to save her life but she died on
Thursday, the foundation said.
The group
estimates that the attack took place three days before she was found.
“This added
a long list of conflict between between industry and wildlife, as well as [the]
practice of nature exploitation,” it said, urging Indonesian government to take
a real action to protect the primates.
“The BOS
Foundation urged real commitment and action of government, private sector in
protecting orangutan,” it said.
Orangutans
are native to the vast island of Kalimantan, which is shared among Indonesia,
Malaysia and Brunei.
Destruction
of Indonesia’s lowland rainforest and peatland for palm oil plantations and
agriculture has led to a dramatic decline in the number of orangutans, Asia’s
only great ape.
Agence France-Presse
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