Homeless for the sake of toothpaste and shampoo

The Palm Oil Industry

By Sophie Pollmann. Photo: International Animal Rescue

Nobody could have anticipated the horrors that awaited Peni and her mom after they strayed into a village in search of food. Their home had been destroyed and the frantic mother was desperate. Starving and disoriented they were set upon by an angry mob of villagers. The adult orangutan, considered a pest, was tied up, beaten and drowned. The image of little Peni, eyes wide with fear, clinging to the back of her dying mother, is one that will haunt me forever.

The Bornean orangutan population has fallen by nearly 150,000 in the last 16 years. What if I told you that you are partially (and unknowingly) responsible for what’s happening to the orangutans?

Orangutans only exist on two islands, Borneo and Sumatra in Southern Asia. Rapid and relentless deforestation for industrial-scale agriculture, particularly palm oil plantations, leaves orangutans without a home, exposing them to hunters who kill the adults and capture their babies to sell as pets. Conservationists estimate that a further 45,000 will vanish in the next 35 years. The remaining population stands between 70 and 100,000. You can do the math; if nothing changes, we will lose them forever.

PALM OIL IS USED IN EVERYTHING from snack foods to soaps. It’s found in over half of all packaged items on our supermarket shelves. Up to 300 football fields of forest are bulldozed every hour to make room for palm plantations. Take a moment to absorb that alarming statistic.

Almost 80 percent of orangutan habitat has been eradicated by human beings in the last 20 years and over 3.5 million hectares of Indonesian and Malaysian forest have been destroyed to make way for palm oil. The demand for palm oil is skyrocketing worldwide. The recent spike in use of palm oil, by the snack food industry in the US, can be traced to it being used as a replacement for the controversial trans fats.

Due to our hunger for palm oil, Indonesia has the highest rate of deforestation in the world. When the forests disappear, so does the wildlife. Irreplaceable wildlife species like the Bornean orangutan are being driven to the brink of extinction. As of now, every third mammal in Indonesia listed under endangered species due to deforestation encroaching on their habitat. And the adverse effects do not stop there. Deforestation releases huge quantities of greenhouse gases, people are also often forcibly removed from their homes. Trace the trickle-down effect of deforestation and you will see that our own species is at risk.

ORANGUTAN MEANS ‘MAN OF THE FOREST’. We share 97 percent of our DNA with them, making the orangutan one of our closest living relative. Orangutans are smart, inquisitive and majestic; they have been on this planet for millions of years and in a blink of an eye they are vanishing from the face of the earth. And it’s our doing. If we can’t protect the orangutan; if we don’t care enough to save an animal so closely related to us, then the future is bleak for all threatened species. Orangutans act as umbrella species; if we protect their ecosystem, countless other animal and plant species will be saved as well. This includes us; we need the forests for the health of the planet, our home.

Orphaned orangutans on their way to feeding at International Animal Rescue’s centre in Borneo. The Perfect World Foundation has contributed to the rehabilitation centre by providing food for 100 baby orangutans.

IT WAS IN THE MID-EIGHTIES, when I was a small child, that my passion for conservation and animal protection was born. I was watching the news at home in southern Sweden where I grew up, when footage from the annual baby seal hunt in Canada came on the screen. I was horrified, and in that moment I decided to help those who have no voice to help themselves. Years later, when I first joined International Animal Rescue’s (IAR’s) head office in the UK, we were mainly an animal rescue charity. Since then our work has expanded to include conservation, protection and re-forestation of forests, law enforcement and tackling the illegal wildlife trade. IAR is fighting every day to save the critically endangered orangutan, and we need help. As expressed by Karmele Llano-Sanchez, IAR’s Program Director and head vet in Borneo; “We are in a crisis and we are running out of time.”

PENI, THE BABY ORANGUTAN mentioned earlier, survived her terrifying ordeal. Despite IAR’s efforts to save her mom, she succumbed to her injuries inflicted by the villagers. Peni spent several years at our Orangutan Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in Borneo where her emotional scars from seeing her mom tortured and killed slowly healed. Orangutans stay with their mothers for 7 years, the longest of any animal except humans. The bond between mother and baby is extremely strong. Peni was released back into the wild where she thrives today. IAR cares for over 100 orphaned orangutans and rescues and relocates many more every year.

IT IS OUR DUTY AS HOMO SAPIENS, which means ‘the wise-man’, to wise up and save the orangutan.

DID YOU KNOW THAT ORANGUTANS

… only live in the tropical rainforests of the two islands of Borneo and Sumatra, in southern Asia.

… measure 120-150 centimetres / 4-5 feet, can weigh up to 100 kilos / 220 lbs, and live to be 30 to 40 years old.

… live almost their whole lives up in trees.

… have extremely long arms. A fully-grown male’s arm span can reach 2 metres / 6.5 feet from fingertip to fingertip. … are one of the closest living relative to us humans. We share 97 percent of our DNA with them. … only get pregnant and give birth every eight years. … stay with their mothers for the first seven years of their lives, and are the animals that stay with their mothers the longest, with the exception of humans. ... are listed as a threatened species. Deforestation has reduced their living space, and together with illegal hunting put the orangutan population at serious risk.