Orangutans evacuated from forest fires in Indonesia

Orangutans Raya and Rayu, a female orangutan with her one-year-old cub, were evacuated on Thursday last week after they were seen near the raging fires in West Kalimantan province, The Straits Times reports. The authorities evacuated the monkeys just as the flames approached their habitat.

They were taken to a more secure location for medical control and to be further monitored. Vets fear they may have suffered smoke damage, but they are said to have no visible burns.

- The initial information we received was that it was an orangutan that needed to be evacuated. But during the rescue operation we realized that there were two. One was the mother and the other was her baby, Muriansyah of the Nature Conservation and Natural Resources Agency in Indonesia told AFP.

Nine orangutans have so far been rescued from the fires in the past month.

- The first challenge with the rescue operation was that it took place in the dark, so visibility was limited. The second was that the area where we found the orangutans had already burned down, which made the evacuation very difficult, says Muriansyah.

Since the beginning of July, Borneo has been affected by widespread forest fires as a result of extreme drought. Over 200,000 hectares of forest and farmland have been ravaged by fire and extensive smog has spread over Borneo and Sumatra. Air pollution from the fires extends all the way to the neighboring countries of Malaysia and Singapore.

Indonesia is one of the world's most fire-prone countries, but authorities believe the country is battling one of the most intense forest fire seasons in eleven years, Reuters reports.

On Saturday, water bombers were deployed during one of the rescue efforts to stop the flames from spreading to Indonesia's future capital, Nusantara, according to TT.