Orangutans are Endangered

Aug. 25, 2003 — Rewards totaling 60,000 ringgit ($15,500) have been offered for information leading to the capture of those who killed three orangutans at a nature reserve in Malaysia, a report said Sunday.

The orangutans, named Mambo, Terry and Marrie, were found dead with stab wounds on Aug. 18 at the Shangri-La Rasa Ria Resort's nature park in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state on Borneo island, the Sunday Star newspaper reported.

The primates were discovered by workers who suspected something amiss when the orangutans did not appear for morning feeding time, said the New Straits Times.

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Another two orangutans injured in the attack were being treated at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center in Sandakan.

All five primates had been captured in Sabah's east coast where their forest habitat has been gradually shrinking, making way for plantations, the Sunday Star said.

Resort general manager Reto Klauser said 50,000 ringgit ($13,000) would be paid for any information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of those behind the killings of the three orangutans.

Management and staff were shocked at the brutal killings of the orangutans, which, according to Klauser, were "a very much loved part of the resort's community."

The Malaysian owner of the Royal London Circus offered 10,000 ringgit ($2,500) for similar information.

I can only hope this reward will hasten the capture of those who committed this senseless act," he said.

The island of Borneo and Sumatra are the world's only homes of the orangutan, whose survival has been threatened by land development, forest fires, poaching and illegal hunting.

Scientists estimate some 15,000 to 20,000 orangutans still survive in Borneo and about 10,000 more in Sumatra but experts warned the large red apes could be extinct within a decade due to rapid depletion of primary forests.

Animal News Center, Inc.