Lucrative Palm Oil Crop Putting Red Apes in Danger

[babylonsister]

Lucrative Palm Oil Crop Putting Red Apes in Danger

by Marc Kielburger and Craig Kielburger

Kesi's name could not be more fitting. It means "child born in difficult times."



A Sumatran orangutan is seen at a zoo in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, in June, 2008. (BOS/SAVETHEORANGUTAN.CO.UK)


Kesi was given the Swahili name at a rescue centre on whose doorstep she arrived at just 3 months old. Her mother had been killed by machetes. Kesi survived the attack but lost her left hand and received a deep wound on her foot.

She was brought to the Nyaru Menteng Rescue Center wrapped in a blanket. She was nursed back to health by the staff. Soon, the baby orangutan learned to play and climb like the others.

The Nyaru Menteng, in Indonesian Borneo, is one of world's largest ape rescue operations. It's seeing an influx of orangutans like Kesi, born into difficult times.

"The orangutans are being slaughtered," says Richard Zimmerman, director of Orangutan Outreach, a U.S.-based NGO that works to preserve the orangutan's habitat. "We prefer to say murdered because these creatures are so closely related to us."

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/12/15-5

[Nihil]

1. K & R (n/t)

:cry: