Orangutans at a rehabilitation centre in Nyaru Menten, central Kalimantan are showing signs of respiratory illness as a result of choking forest fires |
Massive forest fires in Indonesia that have caused a toxic haze to spread as far as Singapore and peninsular Malaysia are also seriously affecting endangered orangutans and their habitat, a rescue foundation said Tuesday.
Jakarta has
deployed thousands of troops as temporary fireman and deployed dozens of
water-bombing aircraft to battle blazes that are turning pristine forest into
charred landscape in Sumatra and Borneo islands.
The fires
-- usually started by illegal burning to clear land for farming -- have
unleashed a choking haze across parts of southeast Asia.
The Borneo
Orangutan Survival Foundation said Tuesday that the haze was affecting hundreds
of great apes in its care at rescue centres and wildlife re-introduction
shelters.
"The
thick smoke does not only endanger the health of our staff... but also it
affects the 355 orangutans we currently care for", the foundation said in
a statement, referring to just once cetre in Kalimantan.
"As many as 37 young orangutans are suspected to have contracted a mild respiratory infection," it added.
The toxic
haze was so bad in parts of Kalimantan that rescuers at an
Orangutan shelter
were keeping the great apes indoors for much of the day
|
"As many as 37 young orangutans are suspected to have contracted a mild respiratory infection," it added.
Conditions
were so bad at their Samboja Lestari facility in East Kalimantan that outdoor
activities for the animals had been restricted to a few hours a day.
Orangutans
have been particularly vulnerable to commercial land clearances and have seen
their natural habitat shrink dramatically in the last few decades.
The
population of orangutan in Borneo has plummeted from about 288,500 in 1973 to
about 100,000 today, according to the International Union for Conservation of
Nature.
The toxic
smoke caused by the forest fires is an annual problem for Indonesia and its neighbours,
but has been worsened this year by particularly dry weather.
On Borneo
island, which Indonesia shares with Malaysia and Brunei, pollution levels were
"hazardous", according to environment ministry data.
Hundreds of
schools across Indonesia and Malaysia were shut.
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