Orangutans Illegally Killed in Borneo Reaches 3,000 per Year, Survey Says

(Photo : Jorge Guerrero / Getty Images)
About 3,000 orangutans are being killed illegally in Borneo every year.

A 10-year survey has shown that over 3,000 orangutans are illegally killed in Borneo every year, some in retaliation.

3000 Orangutans Less Every Year

Illegal killings of Borneo's orangutans persist despite conservation efforts, with new research revealing that direct killings occurred in 30% of surveyed villages in Indonesia's Kalimantan region.

This alarming trend continues, even though these acts are taboo and illegal.

Interviews with over 400 villagers indicated a grim situation, underscoring a decade-old study estimating 2,000 to 3,000 orangutans killed annually.

These critically endangered primates numbers are fewer than 100,000 in the wild, with females giving birth only once every six to eight years.

Borneo, divided among Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia, where most of the island lies, faces a crisis in orangutan survival.

Illegal Killings Out of Fear and Retaliation

In 2020 and 2021, staff from a community development organization conducted interviews with villagers, inquiring about orangutan killings.

They sought to understand when the most recent killing had occurred.

Emily Massingham, a researcher from the University of Queensland, who spearheaded the study, found that the reasons behind direct killings were multifaceted and socially intricate.

Surprisingly, their survey indicated ongoing killing, with a significant portion having transpired within the past five years.

Massingham was taken aback to discover that 30% of the villages had evidence of such killings in the last five to ten years.

Orangutans fall victim to various triggers, such as fear, crop intrusion, or the pet trade, where mothers are killed for capturing and selling their babies.

Additionally, they are hunted for their meat and body parts.

The encroachment of human settlements due to habitat clearing, particularly for palm oil production, exacerbates the problem, bringing these endangered creatures into closer contact with humans.

Effect of Conservation Projects: None

The recent study also revealed that the proximity of a village to a conservation project did not influence the likelihood of reported orangutan killings.

The researchers aimed to determine whether the presence of nearby projects might deter such killings or impact people's attitudes.

Killing orangutans, given their slow reproductive rate and long lifespan, can significantly harm their populations.

To assess social norms, villagers were asked to speculate on the actions others might take in hypothetical scenarios.

Surprisingly, only 40% of respondents provided a legally sound response, which was to leave the animal undisturbed.

A prior study disclosed a $1 billion investment in orangutan protection efforts from 2000 to 2019 in Borneo and the Indonesian island of Sarawak, their sole habitats.

Massingham and her team suggested that conservation projects should collaborate with communities to develop strategies addressing the issue of direct killings, which may be overlooked or downplayed.

While significant funding supports orangutan conservation, insufficient attention is given to these subsistence-based communities, resulting in a delicate balance.

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Expected But Sad Results

Dr. Anne Russon, an orangutan expert at York University in Toronto, finds the research disturbing yet entirely credible, emphasizing that direct killing remains a significant threat.

Prof. Andrew Marshall of the University of Michigan, who has studied Borneo's orangutans for 27 years, was saddened but not surprised by the findings.

He explained that studying hunting of legally protected, endangered species is challenging because people often hesitate to report killings out of fear of authorities or negative perceptions from outsiders.

Consequently, the paper's results likely underestimate the true extent of the threat to orangutans.

Unfortunately, there's little evidence of improved prospects for the species, and without effective conservation interventions, orangutans may face extinction within the lifetimes of people today.