Population of orangutans in E. Kalimantan declining
Population of orangutans in E. Kalimantan declining
JAKARTA (JP): The government estimates the number of
orangutans in East Kalimantan to be 300, warning that the
orangutan population is dwindling as a result of forest
exploitation activities.
Head of the provincial office of the Natural Resource
Conservation Agency, Budiman Amien, said in the East Kalimantan
capital of Samarinda on Wednesday that the primates were also
threatened by tuberculosis and hepatitis, which were prevalent.
Budiman said more and more orangutans were moving from the
jungle to plantation areas, indicating that they are unable to
bear the increasing pressure on their natural habitat.
"Cases of orangutans encroaching on residential areas are
comparable to those of elephants going on the rampage in Lampung
(south Sumatra) villages because logging threatens their
survival," Antara quoted him as saying.
East Kalimantan's forests have been divided into numerous
forestry concession areas.
The government has established an orangutan rehabilitation
center near a protected forest in Samboja, about 60 kilometers
south of Samarinda. The center re-educates orangutans previously
kept as pets, then sets them free in the nearby Sungai Wein
protected jungle. The center also carries out research.
There have been proposals to make orangutans a tourist
attraction, in support of the local government's campaign to
promote eco-tourism.
But Budiman is not enthusiastic about the proposal, saying
that the animals are highly vulnerable to diseases like
tuberculosis and hepatitis, against which their bodies have no
resistance.
Chief of the Samboja orangutan rehabilitation center, Mulyono
Omon, said many of the 165 orangutans that the center has
rehabilitated have hepatitis or tuberculosis, and that may have
got it from their former owners.
"The absence of any resistance against tuberculosis and
hepatitis makes the orangutans contract the diseases very
easily," he said.
The center boasts a clinic possessing sophisticated medical
equipment, like surgery kits and X-ray cameras -- luxuries
unavailable at human clinics in the area.
Of the 165 orangutans the center has re-educated, 84 have been
set free into the Sungai Wein forest, which is becoming a popular
tourist destination.
Mulyono said another 64 orangutans, 30 of which were regained
from Taiwan smugglers several years ago, would be released soon
in Arang Mentus because there were already too many in Sungai
Wein. (pan)