Orangutans' Fingers Mutilated by Oil Palm Plantation Workers: More on the Ape-Palm Oil Connection
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY 
on 07.30.08
photo: Getty Images
We’ve written about the connections between deforestation, the possible extinction of the orangutan, and the expansion of plantation-based palm oil production a number of times. So often in fact that I apologize if some readers think it’s too much. However, if humans allow the orangutan to go extinct, all because we can’t get our collective act together and find a better way to cultivate oil palms and halt deforestation in Indonesia, it will be undeniably a low day for our species.
Currently, Plenty Magazine has a piece with a good description of what’s going on in Indonesia and how the Orangutan is being increasingly put at risk. Some choice quotes:
Rising Palm Oil Demand & Prices Means More Deforestation
Palm oil has long been a staple in Indonesia. There (and in products the world over) it’s used in everything from soap to ice cream. Over the last year and a half, crude palm oil has become even more valuable in the global rush for environmentally sustainable biofuels: In fact, due to rising demand, the price for the oil has increased by 88 percent. Poor countries like Indonesia, the world’s leading palm oil producer, are clearing thousands of acres of pristine rainforest to plant the crop.
Documenting the Demise of Orangutans
Hardi Bantiantoro from the Centre for Orangutan Protection, on what he’s seen:
“I find dead orangutans, they have starved to death. There is no food, no water,” he said. He tells me that on the Indonesian island of Kalimantan (formerly Borneo), more than ten orangutans are starving to death each day because of palm-oil driven deforestation. “The situation for orangutans today is very, very critical. The experts say the orangutans will be extinct in 2015. The orangutans will be extinct in next three years unless the government takes extreme action to save them. But instead they are planning convert 455,000 hectares of forest [in Kalimantan] into new plantations, mostly palm oil,” he said.The workers on those plantations see orangutans as nuisances that trample and eat their crops. “The plantation workers have to protect the oil-palms. That is their job. To them the orangutan who is hunting for food is only a pest,” said Baktiantoro, clicking through slides on his laptop of orangutans whose fingers and hands have been mutilated by plantation workers, and others chained to workers’ dormitories.
In case these anecdotal observations aren’t compelling enough, I refer you to a piece of research which asserts that unless action is taken to stop deforestation in Indonesia, the Orangutan will be the first great ape to go extinct.
Read " Orangutans and palm-based biodiesel don’t mix" yourself to drive home the point and pass it along.
The Centre for Orangutan Protection has more on this issue.
Orangutans, Palm Oil
Palm Oil: A Rainforest in Your Shopping
UN Says Palm Oil Industry is Wiping Out the Orangutan
Orangutan Could be First Great Ape to Become Extinct
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Palm Oil should be avoided - the cost to the environment is too high; and the cash only benefits a few of the already wealthy Indonesians.
This is just sad. I guess it could have been worse. Had the Orangutan been native to the US, they'd have been extinct long ago.
But is it really the first great ape to go extinct? I find that hard to believe. What about Neanderthal? Australopithecus? Over a few million years, I don't think Orangutan is the first. It may be the first great ape to go extinct due to Homo Sapien expansion. I'll buy that. Regardless, that's just semantics. It's sad either way. People will no doubt use that argument to detach themselves from the gravity of the situation.
So what's the solution? Don't buy palm oil? What is it used for anyway? Probably in cosmetics and shampoos and all that right? Eh, I'll look it up...
ugh, if only humans were not everywhere in such high numbers...
Boycotting palm oil may not be the best solution. There are people who depend on these plantations to feed themselves and their families. I know we can do this sustainably, but it's going to take a lot of awareness and cooperation on the parts of a lot of people, many who probably don't care about sustainability, orangutans and other wildlife, or are just looking out for their survival in the relative short term (i.e. their lifetimes).
This is foolish. Cutting the fingers of orangutan when they are in palm fields. Where are all this BLUE CROSS guys?
I believe humans WILL sustain only when they learn that other animals(creatures) have right to exist. Other animals play a vital role in maintaining environmental balance.
Just because humans have power, they shouldn't be behaving cruelly.
I wonder if this news atleast hit indonesian news papers atleast once?
Orangutans are facing a horrific situation in the wild because of the unchecked expansion of industrial palm oil plantations into clearcut rainforest. If you want to learn more-- and see what you can do to help protect orangutans, please visit the Orangutan Outreach website: http://redapes.org
Orangutan Outreach is a registered 501(c)(3) US charity that is directly supporting the work of Hardi Baktiantoro and the Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP)-- as well as the work of Lone Droscher Nielsen at Nyaru Menteng (as seen on Animal Planet's 'Orangutan Island').
I know Hardi personally and can attest to his honor, integrity and love for orangutans. Anyone interested in supporting his crucial work should contact me immediately.
Thanks for your time-- and your attention to this prescient issue.
Peace, Rich
Richard Zimmerman
Director, Orangutan Outreach
http://redapes.org
Reach out and save the orangutans!
Yikes. And the sad thing is, people buy products containing palm oil all the time believing that these products are "cruelty-free."
Palm Oil doesn't even make good biofuel. When used for biodiesel, it gets solid at about 80F. There are much better feedstocks out there.
The people who did this to our cousin should be dealt with in a harsh manner befitting the crime. It has been my experience that life does take care of life in every situation; Orangutan lives and abilities / disabilities are no less important in them as they are in us. Are there assitive devices so the Orangutan can move in it's normal mode of transportation? Greed. Blah. Some one asked for a solution back there. Hope U are reading lol
Hemp could be used to replace everything palm oil is used for today. It is a universal plant; there are two distinct genders that are entwined with the flora and fauna of the entire planet. It once grew in every region, North to South pole. WTF is it illegal and governments allow crap like this to continue when the solution is a weed away? If you are going to fight, Fight for this- ALLOW HEMP PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING WITH NO RESTRICTIONS.
Palm oil need and consumption could be replaced with positive Hemp product advertising (*Benefits of hemp oil) in the areas that consume palm oil the most *Globally. Many areas alow one gender of the hemp to be grown now with tight restrictions; lack of positive knowledge of hemp benefits prevents unrestricted use and production of all of Hemp's magic! it is all grown small scale and in secret anyway, it would just be returning to the soil.
A shift of the farmers from not needed palm production to less invasive (and beneficial) Hemp production could save every species including the Orangutans and humanity!