Rehabilitated orangutans were freed into the wild of a 212,000-acre sanctuary in Kehje Sewen Forest in Indonesia last week as part of an effort to help the giant apes survive.
The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, a conservation nonprofit in southeast Asia, has rehabilitated and released 234 orangutans into the sanctuary since 2012 not only to save the endangered species but to allow them to live wild instead of in a zoo, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
"Because we love them, we have to let them go, to be free in their habitat," Jamartin Sihite, chief executive of the foundation, told The Associated Press after releasing five orangutans last week. "They have a right to live in their natural state and not with people as pets."
The orangutans, known for their enormous seven-foot arms span in many cases, can only be found in Sumatra and Borneo, and are considered highly intelligent and close relatives to humans, National Geographic reported.
Because they are so dependent on trees for their lifestyle, orangutans are particularly susceptible to logging, deforestation and other human activities, such as hunting, noted National Geographic.
"Orangutans are known as gardeners of the forest," according to the Worldwide Wildlife Fund website. "They play a vital role in seed dispersal and in maintaining the health of the forest ecosystem, which is important for people and a host of other animals, including tigers, Asian elephants and Sumatran rhinos. So by conserving the orangutan's habitat, we're also benefiting local communities and other species."
Bornean orangutans were declared critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature this year due to hunting for their meat, which kills 2,000 to 3,000 a year, and destruction of tropical forests for plantation agriculture, according to the AP. The Sumatran orangutan, found only on Sumatra, has been critically endangered since 2008.
The foundation stated that the Bornean orangutans' population has dropped by nearly two-thirds since the early 1970s and could fall to 47,000 animals by 2025, according to the AP. The goal of the foundation's releases is to keep them as far away from people as possible.
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