Humans killing at least 750 Bornean orang-utans a year

Indonesians are killing endangered orang-utans at an alarming rate. At least 750 were killed in one recent year, according to a new survey.

The survey focused on Bornean orang-utans (Pongo pygmaeus) living in Kalimantan, the Indonesian side of the island of Borneo. Led by Erik Meijaard of People and Nature Consulting International in Jakarta, Indonesia, researchers interviewed 6983 people from 687 villages between April 2008 and September 2009 about bushmeat.

Tallying up individual accounts, they estimate that between 750 and 1800 orang-utans were killed in the year leading up to April 2008. In previous years, however, things were even worse: the researchers calculate that between 1950 and 3100 were killed each year.

Interviews suggest 54 per cent were killed for food and eaten by local people. Conflict between humans and orang-utans also seems to be a factor: 10 per cent of orang-utans were said to have been killed because they were raiding crops, and 15 per cent of respondents said the orang-utans had come into conflict with local people.

Even without the threat of becoming bushmeat, Bornean orang-utans are already endangered, with no more than 69,000 left in the wild. The main culprit is habitat loss, with expanding palm-oil plantations often blamed. The high rate of killing only adds to the pressure on the species.

Seventy-three per cent of respondents knew that orang-utans were protected by Indonesian law. "If people are found holding a dead orang-utan they should be prosecuted," says Ashley Leiman, director of the Orangutan Foundation in London. But that is not the case, she says. Killing orang-utans is illegal, but the Indonesian government rarely prosecutes or punishes perpetrators. She is aware of just one successful prosecution; another case is pending.