Mystery Still Shrouds Alleged Orangutan Slaughter in E Kalimantan

Kadir, Puan Cepak Village Head in Muara Kaman sub district, Kutai Kartanegara District, earlier admitted that the killings of orangutans had occurred around two or three years ago, before he became the village head.

He said many of the villagers knew about it and he suspected that local inhabitants had been paid by oil palm plantations operating in the village to kill orangutans considered as pests by the plantation companies.

"At present, the orangutan population is only 10 heads (at the village)."

However, Arsil, the Muara Kaman security section head, said he had never heard about the alleged orangutan slaughter.

"For all I know, there has never been interaction between orangutans and local people because the protected animals live inside the jungle and never approach the human settlement area. They even run away when they see human beings," Arsil said.

According to Arsil, the Orangutan population in Muara Kaman sub district is around 200 heads. The Center for Orangutan Protection (COP) earlier urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to instruct the Forestry Ministry and the National Police to protect orangutans from the cruelty and brutality of palm oil plantation companies in Kalimantan.

"The slaughter of orangutans as a direct impact of deforestation in the interest of palm oil plantations is a crime that involves the plantation workers, the companies’ staffs, and also the government agencies that issued the permits to open plantations in areas that are orangutan habitats," Daniek, a campaigner of COP, said as quoted in a COP’ press statement on October 11, 2011.

"Until today, there is no law enforcement against wildlife law violations. The Forestry Ministry, especially the Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency, do not have sufficient evidence to arrest the criminals, because political and economic interests are involved. So, we need direct action by the President to strengthen the law, spur and encourage the law enforcing agencies to investigate cases of orangutans slaughter, especially those committed by Malaysian companies," he said.

Daniek said the slaughter of apes that occurred in the concession areas of Metro Kajang and AUS in Muara Kaman, East Kalimantan, recently was just a fraction of what was really happening to orangutans in East Kalimantan.

According to the NGO, at least 1,200 orangutans are currently in rehabilitation centers, and most of them were palm oil plantation victims.