Eight Bornean orangutans rescued from encroaching wildfires were released into the Batu Nyambu Protected Forest on Friday, October 9, 2026, following medical screening and rehabilitation. The group included three mothers with their dependent infants alongside two juvenile males, all evacuated from fragmented habitats across the Ketapang and Kayong Utara regencies in West Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Environmental agency officials and conservation workers carried out the transport through a journey that required six hours of overland driving, one hour by boat, and two hours of foot trekking across dense terrain. The animals had undergone health evaluations and quarantine at the Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI) rehabilitation center in Sungai Awan, Ketapang, after fires destroyed surrounding forest canopies.
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Batu Nyambu forest secures 23,000 hectares for released primates
Wildlife authorities chose the Batu Nyambu Protected Forest because its 23,000 hectares contain primary and secondary forest cover, abundant water sources, continuous ecological corridors, and ample food supplies. Karmele Llano Sanchez, chief executive officer of YIARI, stated that protection of habitats will always be a top priority to ensure orangutans continue to have safe forests to live in, but as long as their habitat remains threatened, rescue is one of the best options we can take to help them survive.
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The rescue operations that preceded the release took place across several agricultural border zones during the dry season. On September 3, 2026, teams evacuated Mama Man and her infant Man from Tempurukan village as blazes closed in on their remaining tree cluster. Rescuers had monitored the pair since June near an agricultural concession, but expanding fires removed their movement corridors and forced an immediate extraction.
On September 4, 2026, rescue teams retrieved Mama Nopi, her infant Nopi, and two juvenile males named Naufal and Nopan from a mixed coconut and rubber plantation in Pemangkat village. Although early reports conflated the group into a single family unit, official agency documentation confirmed that Naufal and Nopan are independent adolescent males rather than offspring of Mama Nopi. Rescuers noted that the burning of neighboring tree lines had trapped all four animals in proximity to human settlements without adequate forage.
A third intervention on September 18, 2026, secured Mama Lifa and her infant Lifa from Pelang Village, where the pair was stranded in an isolated 400-square-meter patch of acacia trees surrounded by industrial oil palm plantations. Severe degradation of nearby peatland and forest cover had stripped the area of edible vegetation, leaving both animals at risk of starvation before veterinary teams intervened.
Wildfires threaten 52 percent of orangutan habitats across Borneo
The evacuations formed part of a larger emergency response across West Kalimantan. Between August and October 9, 2026, the Natural Resources Conservation Agency of West Kalimantan (BKSDA Kalbar) and YIARI rescued at least 46 orangutans from burning habitats. Murlan Dameria Pane, head of BKSDA Kalbar, stated that between August and October 9, during the wildfire season, at least 46 orangutans were rescued from burning habitats, adding that securing safe habitats remains an ongoing challenge for conservation efforts.
Dry conditions throughout 2026 intensified under the influence of the El Niño weather pattern, exacerbating fires fueled by land clearing for oil palm and rubber production. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, wildfires have burned across territory holding 52 percent of the orangutan population in Borneo. Data from the World Wide Fund for Nature indicates that roughly 104,000 orangutans remain across Borneo and Sumatra, down from more than 230,000 a century ago.
Argitoe Ranting, program operations director of YIARI, stated that amid forest and land fires that are still ongoing, teams face a difficult situation. He added that the organization wants to ensure that rescued orangutans are not simply moved from one place to another, but actually have a chance to survive in their natural habitat.
BKSDA Kalbar and YIARI issued their formal joint statement detailing the Batu Nyambu operation on Saturday, October 10, 2026, while field monitoring teams remained stationed along the perimeter to track the eight primates during their initial adaptation period.
