Stop Palm Oil Plantations!
- by: Hannah de Groot
- recipient: Julia Gillard
Orangutans are some of our closest relatives, sharing approximately 97% of their DNA with humans. Orangutan means 'Person of the jungle' in the Indonesian language. It is estimated that 6 to 12 of these 'jungle people' are killed each day for palm oil. These gentle creatures are either killed in the deforestation process, when they wonder into a palm oil plantation looking for food, or in the illegal pet trade after they've been captured and kept as pets in extremely poor conditions and provided with extremely poor nutrition.
Orangutans are considered as pests by the palm oil industry. In the deforestation process, workers are told that if wildlife gets in the way, they are to do whatever is necessary in order to dispose them, no matter how inhumane. Often orangutans are run over by logging machinery, beat to death, buried alive or set on fire... all in the name of palm oil.
Orangutans in palm oil plantations are considered an agricultural pest, because they can potentially damage oil palm crops. In order to get rid of them, often a bounty is put on the orangutan's head. If a female orangutan is found carrying a baby, the mother will be murdered and the baby taken and kept as a pet, or sold on the illegal pet trade and in some cases shipped overseas, often within Asia, or countries like America. These gentle, inquisitive animals are also captured and used in the entertainment industry, where they are locked away and beaten in Asian tourist parks and circuses in order to learn tricks and live lives of humiliation and exploitation. They can also be used in films and tevevision adverts all over the world.
In some cases, the absolute unthinkable is done to female orangutans - they are captured and used in Indonesian brothels as prostitutes; where they are tied down and repeatably rape on a daily basis.
Government data has shown that over 50,000 orangutans have already died as a result of deforestation due to palm oil in the last two decades. Experts say that if this pattern of destruction and exploitation continues, these intelligent acrobats of the jungle will be extinct in the wild within 3 to 12 years (as early as 2015). It is also thought that their jungle habitat will be completely gone within 20 years (approximately 2033).
There is only a 1 chromosome difference between orangutans and huans. They are the largest tree-dwelling mammal on the planet, and also the most intelligent animal after humans. With their amazing intellect, they have the ability to reason and think; along with almost all other human feelings and emotions. They can undo bolts, screws, knots and even pick locks. An orangutan named Chentek, at Atlanta Zoo in the US, was taught American sign language as an infant and has a vocabulary of over 500 words! These bright, fellow-apes also have their own culture.
Leif Cocks, an orangutan keeper at Perth Zoo, and founder & president of the Australian Orangutan Project, says:
"Many people believe that the most intelligent great apes are chimpanzees, the bonobo and then the gorillas, this may be because these species are more similar to humans, genetically. I have never come across an experienced ape keeper who has worked closely with all great ape species and does not agree that orangutans are by far the most intelligent."
The following are two aphorisms often stated by primate keepers:
"Give a screwdriver to a chimpanzee and it will throw it at another chimpanzee. Give a screwdriver to a gorilla and it will use it to scratch itself. Give a screwdriver to an orangutan and it will escape!"
"Give ten problems to a chimpanzee and it will solve six of the problems in 30 minutes and never solve the other four. Give ten problems to an orangutan and it will take one week, but will solve all ten problems."
Orangutans are also a vital part of the rainforest ecosystem in South-East Asia. They are a keystone species. For example, orangutans help spread many tree seeds; many of which can only germinate once they have passed through the gut of an orangutan. These beautiful apes are vital in order to preserve the delicate ecosystems of Borneo and Sumatra and maintain the rich bio-diversity of Fauna and Flora in these dense jungles.
Orangutans cannot live without the rainforest, and the rainforest cannot live without orangutans.
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