Indonesia evacuates 11 orangutans as forest fire reaches Borneo rehabilitation site

Indonesia evacuated 11 orangutans from a forest fire in its part of Borneo earlier this week and is monitoring their health, an official said on Friday.

M. Ari Wibawanto, head of the East Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), said the orangutans are healthy and in safe condition despite limited facilities, according to state news agency Antara.

The evacuation took place Tuesday after a severe land fire reached a protected forest reserve in Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan, where the orangutans were being rehabilitated.

The animals have shown behavioral changes, including signs of boredom due to the lack of natural canopy stimulation, after being moved to enclosed evacuation cages in Samboja.

A joint medical team is caring for them to minimize stress and support their cognitive development.

Separately, an adult male orangutan found in Ketapang regency last week died after suffering respiratory problems linked to thick wildfire smoke that had enveloped its habitat for days.

A necropsy found pathological changes in the heart, kidneys and lungs, which were suspected to be related to smoke exposure.

Cloud seeding operations

National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) spokesperson Berton Panjaitan told Anadolu in a statement that Indonesia is conducting cloud seeding operations to maximize available rainfall and increase soil and peatland moisture, helping suppress forest and land fires and prevent new hotspots in priority areas, including Kalimantan and Sumatra.

Indonesia is also carrying out ground operations, water bombing, patrols and cooling efforts as part of its firefighting response, he said.

Panjaitan said active fires remain in several regions, particularly Sumatra and Kalimantan, although some have already been brought under control.

To tackle active fires, the Indonesian Air Force deployed a Caracal helicopter equipped with a water bucket near Nusantara, the planned new capital, in East Kalimantan.

Jambi province also deployed two water-bombing helicopters to fight fires that have burned six hectares in Sultan Thaha Saifuddin Forest Park in Batang Hari district, the provincial government said.