Before deadly landslides and floods struck Indonesia two weeks ago, ranger Amran Siagian, 39, often encountered Tapanuli orangutans on a hill in Sipirok, located in North Sumatra.
Siagian, who has spent at least five years protecting the critically endangered species with the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC), recalls how the orangutans loved eating durians and other fruits grown in local farms.
But since the disaster hit Sipirok, the orangutans have vanished.
The cyclone-triggered floods and landslides have killed 962 people as of Tuesday, with another 291 still missing. The same storm system also caused about 200 deaths in southern Thailand and Malaysia.
“They must have moved far away. I can no longer hear their calls,” Siagian told Reuters.
Local leaders and environmental groups say that deforestation caused by mining and logging worsened the severity of the flooding and landslides. In Sipirok, one of the worst-hit regions in South Tapanuli, large trees appear to have been cleared. Siagian noted that a company had been logging there for at least a year.
He said the forest loss was already impacting the orangutans long before the floods.
“Tapanuli orangutans travel through the forest canopy, moving from branch to branch. When the forest becomes sparse, it becomes difficult for them,” he explained.
According to OIC founder Panud Hadisiswoyo, about 760 Tapanuli orangutans remain in the region.
“The biggest threat is the loss of forest to plantations and extractive industries,” he said.
Across Indonesia and Malaysia, an estimated 119,000 orangutans still survive, based on data from the World Wildlife Fund.
“If the government doesn’t step in, the orangutans here could disappear. Especially with this level of deforestation,” Siagian warned.
