Fending for themselves

After going through many stressful changes in their lives -- kept as pets, confiscated by the authorities and rehabilitated by experts -- six orangutans are finally free to roam in the wild again.

As "graduates" of the Orangutan Reintroduction Center at Nyaru Menteng in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, the animals were declared ready to return to their natural habitat.

The animals were taken to their forest habitat at Kaja and Palas islands, some 28 kilometers west of Palangkaraya.

Six animals may seem an insignificant number, but with such a critically endangered species every animal counts. With the wild population estimated at between 40,000 and 50,000 in Kalimantan but 6,000 lost to habitat encroachment and hunting every year, the species will be extinct by 2020 unless binding conservation measures are enforced.

-- Text and photos by Tarko Sudiarno