October 3, 1997
GLAND, Switzerland -- The 2-month-old Indonesian fires that have
submerged large areas of Southeast Asia in a thick haze and chaos
have now become a real threat to some of the region's most vulnerable
wildlife and protected areas, and are already claiming victims,
WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature said today.
"About 30 female orangutans have died as a result of the fires in
Kalimantan," said Mr. Willie Smits, coordinator of orangutan
conservation activities at the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry.
"Twenty-nine orphaned orangutans have been found in several villages
and alongside the roads after escaping from the forests, probably in
search for food and water."
Mr. Smits explained that it was likely the animals left the forests with their
mothers and that the mothers had been shot in order to take the babies
as pets or for sale into the illegal wildlife market. When found "they were
dehydrated and hungry," he said.
The dead females would be the first confirmed wildlife victims of the
fires, but experts say that the situation could get much worse if the fires
are not put out soon. "Already, some 11 protected areas are burning in
the islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Irian Jaya and Java," said Mr.
Darmawan Liswanto, who works with the Species Monitoring Project at
the WWF office in Jakarta.
According to Mr. Liswanto, "there are reasons for serious concern
about the future of the orangutan populations in Sumatra and Kalimantan,
where satellite images have shown major forest destruction." Whereas
prior to the fires the entire orangutan population was estimated to be
around 30,000 individuals, only about 2 percent of the orangutan's
original forest habitat remained, much of it in areas now ravaged by fire
or affected by the thick haze. The primate is listed as 'vulnerable' in the
categories established by IUCN-The World Conservation Union and its
trade is prohibited by CITES, the convention which governs and restricts
international wildlife trade.
But the orangutans are not the sole species threatened by the fires.
Indonesia is home to several unique species whose ability to survive
may be negatively affected by the fires. Three of them, the Javan and
Sumatran rhinoceroses and the Sumatran tiger have been listed as
"critically-endangered" by the IUCN.
"Although the main concentrations of the Indonesian population of
Sumatran rhinos (some 100-200 animals) are still outside the fire areas,
there are small groups in some of the affected protected areas that are
very threatened," said Elizabeth Kemf, Species Information Officer at
WWF International. "Meanwhile there are only about 60 Javan rhinos in
the wild in Indonesia. This is the rarest rhino in Asia, making it extremely
vulnerable to any extraordinary event, such as the viral infection that
killed five of these animals in the 1980's," she added.
With some 400-500 individuals left, the Sumatran tiger is the last species
of tiger remaining in Indonesia. The Javan and Bali tigers were driven
into extinction in the 1980's and 1940's, respectively. Other threatened
species that are at risk in Indonesia's forests are the Asian elephant and
the Sun bear. All of these species are present in areas that are
currently or have been affected by the fires.
For more information or a list of species affected by the Indonesian fires,
please contact Javier Arreaza at +41 22 364 9550.