The Trade 

Oil palm companies are decimating rainforests at a truly terrifying rate, clearing them of everything other than the soil they need to grow their profitable crops. These companies are a major cause of orangutan deaths - let alone all the other species in the rainforests which they cut and burn. They are largely the reason for the following problems.
Photos: BOSF and Nature Alert

Two of over 400 orangutans rescued by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation Nyaru Menteng Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre, Borneo

When an orangutan has been isolated in a tree that is about to be felled, loggers will either shoot to kill the orangutan high up in the tree, or cut the tree and wait for both it and the orangutan to come crashing, perhaps 100 feet, to the ground, if the animal is still alive it will be either shot or slashed to death with a machete.

If a baby orangutan happens to be found alive and still clinging to its mother’s chest, it will be taken away to be either sold or bartered away for a wristwatch or radio.

To steal a baby orangutan from the wild, first you have to kill its mother. Like any mother, she will naturally try to protect her baby, which explains why females have been found dead with gun or knife wounds – including severed arms and heads.

Orangutans often forced by starvation due to their natural food being destroyed by the logging and oil palm companies, sometimes feed on young and succulent oil palm shoots - if discovered by plantation workers, their fate is often the same. The ‘lucky’ orangutans are those who are rescued by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation and taken to one of their rescue centres.

For every wild-caught baby orangutan bought by zoos or private individuals, experts estimate another four or five will have died either during capture, through illness (poor food/treatment) during transit on ships, planes, cars or trucks. Others die shortly after arriving at their final destination either through injuries, or illness caused by lack of food or water.

The baby orangutans that are caught and traded, if they survive the initial trauma of being parted from their murdered mother, can ultimately find themselves in any number of new and strange situations, all equally unsuitable. Before they do, they must first suffer a long and terrifying journey by whatever means of transport available to the illegal wildlife trader.

Once separated from their newly slaughtered mother, baby orangutans are often confined in wooden crates and cages like these.

Some are bought by wealthy people, including government officials, as a status symbol pet. Many end up in zoos and theme parks, where they can be beaten and starved into submission before learning to take part in humiliating, clown-like acts in front of crowds of laughing people.

Dressing up orangutans to look like clowns and forcing them to take part in humiliating shows is neither educational nor scientific. But it does make some zoos some extra money. Have you ever wondered what happens to orangutans when they grow too large and too strong to take part in the shows?
Photos: Karl Amman and Nature Alert

Orangutans are protected by an international agreement between Governments, known as CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna). As an Appendix 1 Species under CITES no orangutans may be sold or traded in any way for commercial purposes by any country that is a signatory to CITES. Until April 2006 CITES had showed little interest in repatriating illegal orangutans to their country of origin. See CITES page on this web site for further details.
Also www.cites.org

CITES is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. It is estimated over 1000 orangutans are being illegally traded every year.

The global trade in illegal wildlife is estimated by Interpol, the international police agency, to be second only in monetary terms to the drugs trade.

Interpol employs one person to investigate illegal wildlife trade issues, which are reported to it by individual countries. One person to cover the whole world provides us with a clue as to the lack of importance attached to the illegal wildlife trade.

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