BORNEO — Orang-utan Rescue

Witnessing the chaos the peatland fires caused the month before (October 2015) I felt it was critical to returned to Borneo, and document the work of orang-utan rescuers and staff at Yayasan IAR orang-utan center in Ketapang as they coped with the near daily rescue needs of Bornean orang-utans trapped by the fires. I have endless respect for director Dr. Karmele Llano Sanchez and the Center’s entire staff — they worked tirelessly (actually they looked dog-tired sometimes) to rescue and care for orang-utan after orang-utan that had to be saved in the aftermath of the unprecedented inferno.

The attached portfolio of photos is from one rescue that took place several hours north of the Center. There in the drenching tropical rains, that had finally come to extinguish the fires, Drs. Karmele Llano Sanchez and Jaclyn Eng with a team of 20 went to work behind Sungai Jambu village to rescue a lovely big male Bornean orang-utan that had been cut off from its home range forest by fires a few weeks earlier. The rescue attempt was successful and the male eventually was transferred back to the Center in Ketapang. He will stay there for several weeks in quarantine until a suitable release site can be identified and government permits for release confirmed.

NOTE: the wound on his face was superficial and treated with antibiotics.