A Men-Made, Deadly Conflict

Due to their loss of habitat, orangutans get increasingly into conflict with farmers and plantation workers. As they search for food, they are often shot - for stealing a few prized fruits.

It may be surprising to some, but orangutans in Indonesia are increasingly being considered as pests. The main reason is that the orangutan's remaining habitat is becoming more and more fragmented and encroached for farmland and plantations. As the forest edges are gradually eroded by illegal logging and conversion to fruit and vegetable gardens the orangutans are increasingly coming into conflict with people, as they are tempted by the new fruit trees planted within what used to be, and still is, part of their home range.

The end result is that the orangutans are routinely shot - shot dead simply for stealing a few prized durian or other fruits. Often this will be an adult female orangutan with an infant, and if the infant survives the shooting and the fall, it will also make its way into the pet trade. In fact, in Sumatra today this is probably the most common means by which young infants are captured and illegal pets obtained. Organised hunting of orangutans specifically for the pet trade seems to be relatively uncommon these days, and most illegal pets are instead probably a "by-product" of this form of human wildlife conflict.

A Men-Made, Deadly Conflict

Help the orangutans!