Conservationists release nine rescued orangutans into Borneo forest
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Conservationists released nine orangutans into the Batu Nyambu forest in Indonesia on October 29.
The group included four mothers and their young, including three females who were pregnant during their final medical checkups. The animals spent four to eight weeks at a rehabilitation center in Ketapang after being rescued from an oil palm plantation. Fires had destroyed their original habitat, leaving some of the orangutans with burns on their limbs and others severely underweight.
Workers moved the animals to the 23,000-hectare protected area using vehicles, boats, and manual transport through steep terrain. This release occurs as fire damage continues to threaten the critically endangered species on Borneo. The Indonesian forestry ministry reports that workers rescued at least 51 orangutans from burning forests in West Kalimantan since early August. Meanwhile, Nusantara Atlas estimates that fires destroyed more than 1.9 million hectares of land across Indonesia during the first nine months of 2026.
