Killing our cousins: The plight of the orangutan

I have been obsessed with primates for as long as I can remember. My infatuation led me to travel to Borneo in 2002 to visit the Sepilok Orangutan sanctuary, and subsequently inspired me to volunteer at the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project (GRP) in Phuket, Thailand, several times. My experiences with the gibbons at the GRP were intense and life changing. The gibbons at the project are victims of the illegal wildlife trade - most have formerly been abused as pets and tourist attractions. I gained an intimate understanding of the complexities of rehabilitation and re-release, within the context of the fractured lives and exploitation the gibbons had experienced.

I wrote about the gibbons in a 2011 article for The Scavenger, where I outlined the link between the wildlife trade and the tourism industry in Thailand. I have also written about the torture and total subjugation of chimpanzees in medical laboratories and testing facilities. And another piece I wrote in 2011 spotlighted the impact of Indonesia's staggering rate of deforestation and proliferation of palm oil plantations on orangutans and other forest species.

My latest article for Discordia, Killing our cousins: The plight of the orangutan, revisits the issue of palm oil, and the alarming violence being inflicted on orangutans to keep the wheels of industry - and its huge profits - turning. I also reflect on my time in Borneo, and an intense encounter with two orangutans.

I suspect that this won't be the last time that I am compelled to write about primates!
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Killing our cousins: The plight of the orangutan

A baby’s cries penetrate the air as the mob surges forward to continue its attack. The focus of attention is the baby’s mother, an adult orangutan, whose lifeless body the infant is desperately clutching.

Earlier, the mother orangutan had fought bravely to protect her infant while sustaining savage beatings with sticks and rocks, despite the tight ropes encircling her limbs. Finally, she was thrust head-down into a pool of water, to be wrenched out only after losing consciousness.

Now thrown into a makeshift pen, the mother slumps forward as her baby grasps her rust-coloured fur and cries out in panic.

Many local residents were incensed that the mother orangutan had entered the village to scavenge for fruit. But like increasing numbers of her fellow species, her ever-shrinking habitat had presented little other choice. 

Shockingly this brutal event in Borneo, culminating in the courageous mother’s death, is not an isolated incident.

In the line of fire

Approximately 5,000 orangutans perish each year as a consequence of forest destruction, hunting, and the illegal pet trade. A mere decade could see one of our closest living relatives wiped off the face of the Earth.  

In Indonesia and Malaysia, the expansion of the palm oil trade and prevalence of legal and illegal logging have eroded enormous forested areas, leaving orangutans residing within fragmented and shrinking pockets of vulnerable rainforest.

78% of forests inhabited by orangutans in Borneo are unprotected, with a large proportion made up of logging concessions or slated for conversion to palm oil and timber plantations. The insatiable economic interests of these industries and the livelihoods of wildlife such as the orangutan are intrinsically incompatible.

Escalating encroachment onto orangutan habitat is not only having a devastating impact on the species, but has seen an unprecedented level of violence perpetrated against individual orangutans.

The palm oil industry considers the endangered primates a hindrance to production, and some companies have employed ruthless measures to destroy them - even going to the extent of bankrolling their extermination. 

Disturbingly, monetary incentives have been offered to bounty hunters to seek out and kill orangutans. Last year it was reported that a Malaysian company was paying their workers one million Indonesian rupiah ($100 AUD) per dead orangutan. Mass graves of orangutans have also been discovered on palm oil plantation sites.

Captured orangutans are often viciously attacked and tortured to death.

Uncontrolled burning is also regularly employed by palm oil companies to rapidly clear land, placing orangutans in the line of fire. Burning of forest has a comprehensively damaging effect on the species: it shrinks their habitat, destroys their food sources, and often kills them directly.

An encounter

Eleven years ago I travelled to Malaysian Borneo to visit the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre and Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary to indulge my fascination with primates.

The Sepilok centre aims to rehabilitate orphaned orangutans, and provides supplementary feeding to recently released orangutans within the forested reserve. At Labuk Bay, the quirky looking proboscis monkeys living in the vicinity are given supplementary provisions to strengthen their community in the face of dwindling wild food options.

In Borneo, the reality on the ground was confronting.

Peering out of the window during car trips on the island, I’d often perceive a sudden change in landscape. The view would come to be dominated by derelict tracts of land; what our guide explained were palm oil concessions.

My stomach would tighten as my eyes focused on desolate wastelands which formerly hosted lush and vibrant rainforest. The situation was more desperate than I could have imagined.

One day at Sepilok, I slowly proceeded towards the viewing platform where the orangutans were fed. As I meandered along the wooden walkway through the forest, absorbed in the bird songs and jungle chatter, my eye caught a bright spot of colour. I lifted my head up to focus on it.

I froze. In front of me, perched on the wooden handrail, was a mother orangutan. In her protective arms an infant was snuggled to her breast. The mother sat still as we quietly contemplated each other. She seemed unruffled by my presence; her calm manner surprised me. But what happened next surprised me even more.

The adult female grabbed her baby under the arms, and swivelled the infant around to face me. She held her baby up, in what I interpreted as a proud mother showing off her gorgeous child. They then both sat, unmoving, observing me in the shadows of the buzzing forest canopy. We remained like this for several minutes, eyeing each other with peaceful curiosity.

And then they scampered off, up towards the trees which would afford them distance from prying human eyes.

I will never forget that spine-tingling encounter. But I now sometimes wonder: did this mother ever have to flee from the sinister hands of humans? Or risk her life to protect her baby?

Did they, like many of their species, become virtual exiles in their own land?

While certain industries view their interests as in conflict with orangutans and other forest species, we need to reject this mentality. The reality is our interests are in harmony with these species.

Their habitat, which is being so recklessly destroyed, is also our precious environment. Apathy towards the fate of their children is indifference towards our own children.

And ultimately, violence against our fellow primates is an act of violence against us.

***With Easter around the corner, keep in mind that palm oil is a common ingredient in chocolate and can sometimes even be found in hot cross buns. See The Orangutan Project’s website for more information about the current threats to orangutans.