An orangutan has been found dead after being shot 130 times and hacked with a machete in Borneo – the latest fatal attack on the critically endangered species.
The mutilated male orangutan, aged between five and seven, was found by villagers in Borneo’s East Kutai district this week sparking a manhunt for the killers.
X-Rays found 74 airgun bullets in its head, 17 in the chest and dozens more in the limbs. But experts were only able to remove 48 bullets from the animal, which had also been blinded.
It comes a week after police on the island arrested two rubber plantation workers and accused them of shooting one of the primates multiple times and then decapitating it.
An orangutan has been found dead after being shot 130 times and hacked with a machete in Borneo – the latest fatal attack on the critically endangered species. Rescuers from the Centre for Orangutan Protection tried to save the animal (pictured) but its injuries were too severe
The mutilated male orangutan, aged between five and seven, was found by villagers in Borneo’s East Kutai district this week sparking a manhunt for the killers. X-Rays found 74 airgun bullets in its head, 17 in the chest and dozens more in the limbs
Local police chief Dedi Agustono, said of the latest gruesome death: ‘We found pellets all over its body. There were also a number of cut wounds that could have been caused by a machete.
‘It is the most bullet wounds we have ever seen on an orangutan,’ he added. Most of the pellets were lodged in the animal’s head and around its eyes.
Rescuers tried to save the animal but its injuries were too severe.
Last week an orangutan’s headless body was found floating in a river on the island, which is shared with Malaysia. The Indonesian portion of Borneo is called Kalimantan.
Bornean and Sumatran orangutans are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Rescuers are pictured attempting to treat the animal. It comes a week after Borneo police arrested two rubber plantation workers and accused them of shooting one of the primates multiple times and then decapitating it
Experts were only able to remove 48 bullets from the orangutan, which had also been blinded
The Sumatran orangutan population is estimated to be just under 15,000, while about 54,000 orangutans are thought to live in Borneo, according to the IUCN
The Sumatran orangutan population is estimated to be just under 15,000, while about 54,000 orangutans are thought to live in Borneo, according to the IUCN.
Rampant logging and the rapid expansion of palm oil plantations have been blamed for destroying their jungle habitat, leading to numerous conflicts with humans.
Plantation workers and villagers are sometimes known to attack an animal that they see as a pest, while poachers also capture them to sell as pets.
Most orangutan killings are not solved, said Ramadhani, a manager at the Centre for Orangutan Protection which helped with the autopsy.
‘We are pushing law enforcement to solve the case as soon as possible,’ added the conservationist, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
‘If they’re serious, they should be able to arrest the perpetrators, just like what they have done in central Borneo.’