The latest victim of the Palm Oil Industry in Indonesia is an orphaned orangutan named Pelangsi who was trapped in a snare for ten days before a rescue team ended the poor animal’s plight.
International Animal Rescue (IAR), and international organization working towards the welfare of animals recently rescued an orangutan from the wild whose right hand had been trapped in a snare kept by hunters in the forest in the Ketapang region of Indonesia.
The poor ape was left struggling all alone while he tried to remove his hand from the snare. It not only had to bear the excruciating pain, but was also stuck without food.
“The great ape is thought to have suffered a week and a half of unimaginable torture in the trap with no food. He survived on rainwater alone before rescuers found him,” reported The Metro.
When the team from International Animal Rescue reached the spot, Pelangsi was sedated and given IV fluids while they tried to free him. He was taken to IAR’s clinic in Ketapang, West Kalimantan, Indonesia where he was placed in intensive care.
“Rescuers think he is going to survive, but he has to get strong enough before they can amputate his destroyed hand,” said Chris Skone-Roberts, a photographer who works with IAR.
The ape’s hand has to be amputated now as the wound left by the snare is severe. Also in his struggle to free himself, Pelangsi tried to gnaw his own hand off.
Palm oil industry has been ravaging the forests of Indonesia for years now. It is routine for them to lay traps and snares in the forest so that the endangered orangutans are caught and the forest can be cleared for the plantation.
“Pelangsi’s story is a graphic illustration of the fate of countless orangutans that are left homeless and hungry when the forest is cut down,” IAR’s Karmele Llano Sanchez said.
Palm oil is used in several industries like cosmetic and processed food but the plantations are not just destroying the rain forests of Indonesia and Malaysia, they are virtually wiping out homes of the gentle orangutans whose population in the wild is estimated to be less than 9000.
Pelangsi was named after the area it was found trapped. Hopefully the tragedy will bring the focus back to conservation and the region can be saved just like the orphaned ape.