{"id":593315,"date":"2026-08-14T19:10:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T19:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/593315\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T19:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T19:10:17","slug":"indonesia-wildfires-threaten-orangutans-rescued-from-animal-traffickers-indonesia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/593315\/","title":{"rendered":"Indonesia wildfires threaten orangutans rescued from animal traffickers | Indonesia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Orangutans rescued from wildlife traffickers face a new threat from the record number of fires that have broken out in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/indonesia\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Indonesia<\/a> in recent weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Flames have come within metres of an animal rehabilitation centre in West Kalimantan as hot, dry and windy conditions have been amplified by a powerful El Ni\u00f1o and the human-driven climate crisis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In the first 13 days of August, Indonesia registered more than three times more <a href=\"https:\/\/asia.nikkei.com\/spotlight\/environment\/effects-of-indonesia-forest-fires-blight-malaysia-as-hot-spot-number-soars\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">forest fire hotspots<\/a> than in the whole of the same month last year. This followed a record number of blazes between January and July.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">West Kalimantan has been at the epicentre. After 40 days without rain, there have been dozens of severe outbreaks of fire in the region.<\/p>\n<p>Orangutans at the Yiari rehabilitation centre. Photograph: Yiari<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Flames threatened the <a href=\"https:\/\/yiari.or.id\/en\/about-us\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Yiari<\/a> orangutan rehabilitation centre this week. The fire moved rapidly from 1km away to within 100 metres of the perimeter within days, prompting staff to relocate the 60 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/news\/2026\/may\/19\/should-we-leave-them-to-die-the-battle-over-how-to-save-orangutans-from-the-curse-of-palm-oil\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">resident orangutans<\/a> to enclosures in the middle of the centre.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Indonesia authorities have water-bombed the forest to try to control the blaze, and teams from the centre joined the firefighting efforts as the air quality worsened, posing a threat to animals and the wider ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The centre\u2019s director, Dr Karmele Llano S\u00e1nchez, said in her latest update that battling the fire had been relentless. \u201cWe were fighting it until 3am, but this morning it has reignited. The teams are working round the clock but they are exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The situation had reportedly stabilised as of Thursday evening, with all the animals safe, but the meteorological agency has said the hot, dry conditions are likely to continue and could lead to more outbreaks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Indonesian authorities have urged people to avoid setting fires and to remain vigilant because the peak of the fire season is usually in September and October.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Yiari is seeking funds for more firefighting equipment. It <a href=\"https:\/\/news.mongabay.com\/2026\/08\/flames-reach-edge-of-orangutan-rehabilitation-center-with-fire-season-set-to-intensify\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">warned<\/a> of the growing threat earlier this year after a fire started for land clearing spread into one of its ecosystem restoration sites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orangutans rescued from wildlife traffickers face a new threat from the record number of fires that have broken&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-593315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}