From the Heart of the Fires.. Rescue of 8 Orangutans in Indonesia

Indonesian authorities and wildlife conservation workers said on Sunday that they had successfully relocated eight orangutans to a safe area after forest fires destroyed the habitat of these endangered primates in the forests of Borneo island.

Indonesia is battling its worst forest fires in about 11 years, particularly on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. The government has warned that the fires could persist until November, exacerbated by the El Niño climate phenomenon.

In a joint statement, the Indonesian government and a wildlife-related foundation said that the animals rescued between August and September included three mothers with their offspring and two young males, from several locations.

The World Wildlife Fund noted that orangutans are great apes critically endangered, found in the wild only on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra in Southeast Asia. Indonesia is home to all three known species of this animal.

From January to July this year, fires consumed approximately 500,000 acres in Indonesia.

No official data has been released for the subsequent months, but non-governmental organizations estimate that fires have since destroyed at least three times that area.

Smoke from the fires has led to 175,000 cases of respiratory illnesses in Indonesia, while haze has spread to neighboring Singapore and Malaysia, where many schools closed on Friday due to deteriorating air quality.