Orangutan Caring Week

Orangutan Caring Week

November 10th - 16th

This November is Orangutan Caring Week, a time to recognise the danger facing one of the closest species on earth to man, and the most iconic victim of the ever-expanding palm oil industry.

The orangutans' rainforest is being destroyed for palm oil plantations and other crops at an overwhelming rate. Remaining forest is decimated by forest fires, which are lit to quickly clear the forest all over Borneo and Sumatra.

Between 1992 and 2000, the Sumatran Orangutan population declined by more than 50%, and there is only an estimated 6,500 Sumatran Orangutans left in the wild today. The population of the Bornean Orangutan also fell nearly 43% in the past 10 years and it is now estimated there is only 45,000 Bornean Orangutans left in the wild.

President and Founder of The Orangutan Project, Leif Cocks highlights the importance of our actions today, 'The orangutan species is only just hanging on by a thread. Each day we are inundated by news of proposals to slash the remaining fragments of forest in Borneo and Sumatra, and without habitat the species will simply not survive in the wild. The best hope we have is to protect remaining forest by actively purchasing old logging concessions."

There are plenty of ways the public can help support the species this coming World Orangutan Day. The Orangutan Project (TOP) is a notfor- profit organisation that supports orangutan conservation, rainforest protection, local community partnerships and the rehabilitation and reintroduction of displaced orangutans back to the wild.

The public can adopt an orangutan for as little as $55, which helps rehabilitate orphan and displaced orangutans back into the wild: http://bit.ly/13Mjesf

TOP's Safeguard Program funds Wildlife Protection Units, frontline patrols that deter illegal logging, land clearing and wildlife crime in Borneo and Sumatra. Find out more here: http://bit.ly/1erZb7y

Ambassador Cornelia Frances (Home & Away) will also be hosting Sydney event -Let's Go Ape' on November 30th. For details and more events around Australia during Orangutan Caring Week please visit http://bit.ly/1bXK5em.