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| Alba, the world’s only known albino orangutan, was released back into the wild in late 2018 (AFP Photo/Handout) |
The world's only known albino orangutan has been spotted alive and well in a Borneo rainforest, more than a year after she was released into the wild, conservationists say.
Alba, a
blue-eyed primate covered in fuzzy white hair, was taken in 2017 from a cage
where she was being kept as a pet by villagers in Indonesia's section of
Borneo, known as Kalimantan.
Alba was
released back into the wild in late 2018.
This week,
the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation said Alba was spotted as it monitored
three other orangutans who were recently released.
"After
we learned that she can build nests, forage independently and is no longer
dependent on human assistance we concluded that she can survive in the
forest," said Indra Exploitasia, the environment ministry's director of
biodiversity conservation.
Alba's
rescue was some rare positive news for the critically endangered species, which
has seen its habitat shrink drastically over the past few decades largely due
to the destruction of forests for logging, paper, palm oil and mining.
Plantation
workers and villagers are sometimes known to attack the animals because they
see them as a pest, while poachers also capture them to sell as pets.
