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Time is running out for the orangutan. Without your support they’re set for extinction

The orangutan, the gentle “person of the forest”, is Asia’s only great ape. Despite its crucial role in the forest, orangutan numbers have plummeted to less than 20% over the last 75 years. Illegal logging, mining, farming and poaching are strangling the orangutan’s chances of survival. We need to act now to stop them from dying out.

The Critically Endangered Sumatran orangutan Pongo abelii and its sister species, the Endangered Bornean orangutan Pongo pygmaeus struggle to survive in their native forests of Indonesia and Malaysia where deforestation is rife. Shockingly, the illegal animal trade has also been a significant factor in the decline of wild orangutans.
Infant orangutans can fetch a high price in the pet blackmarket. For the first few years of their lives, young orangutans are defenseless, holding tightly to their mother’s body as she moves through the forest in search of fruit. Sadly, poachers often resort to killing the mother to steal the infant.

However, you can help us save them.
By giving a donation today you can help us fight against the extinction of threatened animals like the orangutan.

Pressures on the orangutan’s forest habitat have worsened in recent years. You may have seen media coverage of the threat of palm oil plantations to rainforests around the world. In fact, cutting down natural forest to plant trees for palm oil poses one of the most serious threats to the orangutan’s survival. This has been exacerbated by an increased demand for timber ever since the tsunami struck in 2004.

As you will know, FFI has an outstanding track record of successfully protecting threatened species. For the past six years we have dedicated our expertise to protecting the largest and most important orangutan population, which lives in Borneo’s Gunung Palung National Park. It’s a high priority for us to combat illegal trapping of orangutans, both by teaching local communities their importance and by targeting poachers.

With your support, we can continue to train local people to patrol and protect orangutans, we can do more to prevent the further destruction of precious rainforest and we can provide a safe haven in the wild for surviving orangutans.

This vulnerable great ape simply needs more protection. Without our help, orangutans will continue to be stolen for the illegal wildlife trade and have their homes wiped out.

Please donate whatever you can afford to help us protect them and other endangered species. Your help is massively appreciated.

Thank you.

For further information please contact Camila Iturra on +44 (0)1223 579018 or camila.iturra@fauna-flora.org

If you would like to buy high quality photos of orangutans, please go to our photo page.