Orangutan Crisis : ATAAC

Animal Issues
Animals We Eat Fast Facts Live Animal Export Factory Farming Animals We Exploit Circuses Zoos Horse Racing Rodeos Animals We Test On Dissection Vivisection Animals We Wear Fur Leather Silk Wool Dog & Cat Fur Exotic Skins Hunting Animals Animals We Neglect Say No To Animals In Pet Shops

International Issues
Animals In The Ocean Whaling Dolphin Massacre Tuna Crisis Shark Finning Seal Clubbing Animals On The Land Bear Farming Bear Baiting Dancing Bears Orangutan Crisis Stray Dog Crisis

Cruelty Free Living
Companies Animal Friendly Animal Testing Nutrition Change Your Life NOW Vegetarian & Vegan

Orangutan Crisis

Sunday, 06 January 2008

Borneo Orangutan Crisis

Photo used with kind permission of Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation
Baby clings to dead mother

Orangutans thrived in the forests of Southeast Asia for millions of years. They survive now only in the forests on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia.
Sumatran orangutans are critically endangered.Habitat loss and poaching are pushing them towards extinction.Every minute of every day an area equal to six football fields of Indonesian forest disappears.

Orangutans breed more slowly than any other primate, with the female producing a baby on average only once every 7-8 years. Infants are dependent on their mothers for at least five years, learning about survival in the forest. Orangutans live for around 45 years in the wild, and a female will usually have no more than 3 offspring in her lifetime. This means that orangutan populations grow very slowly, and take a long time to recover from habitat disturbance and hunting.

BIGGEST THREAT FOR THE ORANGUTANS

PALM OIL.
Palm Oil, an ingredient found in many everyday food and cosmetic products, is contributing to the rapid destruction of rainforests. Orangutan habitat in Sumatra and Borneo is being clear-felled at an alarming rate for conversion to oil palm plantations. On Sumatra there is now more than 4 times as much land cultivated with oil palms as there is orangutan habitat remaining.

Over the past few decades, oil palm plantations have rapidly spread across South-east Asia and are a source of important economic benefits in terms of foreign exchange and employment in Indonesia. However, this development has become a source of serious concern, because much of the plantation expansion has happened at the expense of Indonesia's tropical forest cover, where forests are disappearing at a rate of more than 2.8 million hectares per year.

There is a huge amount of degraded land available for planting oil palms in Sumatra and Borneo, but palm oil companies can make a quick profit when they cut down rainforests and sell the timber, so the relentless deforestation continues. We do NOT advocate a boycott of products containing palm oil, or companies using palm oil in their products. However, the international community must demand that oil-palm concessions are not granted in forested areas, and that our local retailers and consumer goods manufacturers only source their palm oil from non-destructive plantations.

These products and companies have verified that all of the products displayed contain palm oil or a palm oil derivative.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?
There are some really great sites where you can find out all you need to know about the Orangutans and palm oil, and the best part is they are Australian sites so all the info and how we, as Australians can help. They have lots of videos and facts so check them out:

BOS (Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation Australia
PALM OIL ACTION

Did you know, KFC fries all their chicken in Palm oil? Another great reason not to eat KFC. Want to know more about KFC Cruelty? check HERE