Every year, as a direct result of deforestation for palm oil, approximately 6,000 orangutans are killed. Not only is the ingredient (which is common in household products) devastating animals’ natural habitats, it is polluting the environment. This orangutan was angry and is fighting an excavator in an attempt to protect his home in Borneo
Activists aren’t the only people distraught by this fact. Orangutans and other animals who are being forced from their homes are also less than pleased by humanity’s rampant greed.
This was made evident when International Animal Rescue captured the sad footage of an orangutan fighting an excavator in Borneo.
As The Independent reports, the footage was captured in 2013 but was only recently released.
The short clip shows a distraught orangutan walking toward a bulldozer which is destroying his habitat in the Sungai Putri forest in Borneo, Indonesia. After slapping the machine’s bucket, he frantically tries to escape.
The plight of the orangutans is a cause everyone should be passionate about. Why? Because humans are responsible for the mass amount of suffering taking place in Indonesia, as well as rainforests around the world.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, worldwide orangutan populations have halved in the past 60 years. And in the last 20 years, 55 percent of the animals’ natural habitats have been destroyed.
Borneo has lost more than 100,000 orangutans in the space of just 16 years as a result of hunting and habitat loss, according to a new report.
Logging, mining, oil palm, paper, and linked deforestation have been blamed for the the diminishing numbers. Their natural habitat is disappearing quickly, mainly because of palm oil plantations.
However, researchers also found many orangutans have vanished from more intact, forested regions, suggesting that hunting and other direct conflict between orangutans and humans continues to be a chief threat to the species.
Enough is enough. If you’d like to take action, support organizations like International Animal Rescue and donate to support their efforts. Finally, share this article to raise awareness about the issue.
Source: The Mind Unleashed & International Animal Rescue
