Indonesia's Fires Killing, Starving Orangutans - About 1,000 Dead So Far - ENN

[hatrack]

JAKARTA — About 1,000 orangutans are estimated to have died in Indonesia during the dry season this year in which raging forest fires have produced thick smoke across huge areas of Southeast Asia, a conservationist said on Monday. The fires in the Indonesian part of Borneo have deprived orangutans of food and forced them to encroach on human settlements, where they are often attacked for damaging crops, the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation said.

"Orangutans are starving. They are sick and many of those we are treating were injured after being attacked by machetes," Willie Smits, an ecologist at the foundation told Reuters, adding that many also suffered from respiratory problems. He said 120 sick orangutans had been treated in three conservation centres over the past three months, and 10 to 15 of them had died.

He estimated that in all 1,000 orangutans had died over this year's dry season.

Orangutans live on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, but encroachment on their habitats by humans and massive destruction of forests is threatening their existance. In 2002, it was estimated there were 56,000 orangutans in the wild but the population has dwindled at a rate of 6,000 a year, conservationists say.

EDIT

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=11590

[mom cat]

1. This is reprehensible. Do not buy any woos that is not certified. K&R

Or furniture. Those beautiful mahogny chairs probably came from rapacious destruction of the earth's lungs ... and eventually, your lungs too!

[Teaser]

2. they had it coming

Clearly the orangutans had to know that living in a forest would elevate their probability of death in a forest fire. Hello....forest...made of wood...burns?!?

Frankly, if the orangutan population can't take it upon itself to do some research before buying a country home, I don't know why I should feel bad for them when the inevitable fire comes along.

But for the orangutan who just happens to be reading this, I have some advice: cities are made of concrete, which DOES NOT EVER BURN.

Next time, primates, try civilization.

[NNadir]

3. That's about as funny as one can be when viewing a tragedy.

Maybe we should build Orangatan condos in the forest with sprikler systems.

I really have to try to laugh, because this one really makes me feel like crying.

I was talking with my son the other day, trying to explain to him the concept of genus, since he was studying Homo erectus in sixth grade curriculum. For a brief moment we were trying to imagine what it might have involved to have two members of our genus in the world. How would we treat Homo erectus, were he or she here now and today?

But I guess the planet wouldn't be big enough for the both of us. Now it seems that cannot even keep members of our family alive. Chimps, Orangtans, Gorillas - all are threatened.

It is so terrible, so terrible.

[Dead_Parrot]

5. I'm surprised they've lasted this long

We can't even treat other members of our own species with dignity and respect: Other apes haven't got a hope in hell.

[Teaser]

8. All that's left to do is laugh

Really, we've burned so many bridges that at this point I can do nothing but laugh at our folly.

Hooray! We're the greatest fucking killing machine ever to grace this godforsaken universe.

I wish I could be a creationist. Then I could blame us on god. As it is, I can only stick it on blind evolution, and hating that is like hating the weak nuclear force. Sure, you can do it, but what does it get you but gas?

[Boomer]

4. I almost couldn't read this thread today

Just the headline was enough to make me sick to my stomach.

Last night I watched a documentary on attempts to rescue and rehabilitate lab chimps, many of which had been kept in cages for decades while subjected to weekly rounds of biopsies and injections, were infected with AIDS, or were used for experimental implants (which were then removed, leaving them crippled and in pain).

Not surprisingly, most of these chimps were depressed, anti-social, incredibly insecure and died premature deaths. It was heartbreaking to see them warily emerge from their wire-bound cages into a new landscaped compound where they could actually walk on grass and climb trees for the first time in years, if ever.

Days like these make me angry enough to think that our species can't end any too soon. Enough already.

[file83]

6. This just sickens me. Those are such beautiful creatures.

:cry:

[jasmeel]

7. Stories on Yahoo homepage-vote it up!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061107/ap_on_sc/indonesia_haze_orangutans