Illegal pet trade

Wild orangutan numbers are also affected by the illegal pet trade - particularly the socially inclined baby.

Estimates suggest that more than 1000 orangutans are smuggled into Java and overseas each year. Indeed, a recent report by the Centre for Orangutan Protection and Nature Alert puts the number killed or captured for the illegal pet trade at as high as 20,000 over the past ten years.

While the orangutan is protected by both national laws and international conventions, authorities rarely prosecute and penalties are mild.

For every baby that makes it to the backstreet markets of Bangkok or Taiwan another two have perished. And to "harvest" the babies a further five mothers have been killed.

Orphaned orangutans being sold on the illegal market

When it all goes wrong - chained to a tree for life or succumbing to the trauma of capture

Threats to orangutans

Loss of habitat

Poaching

For the most recent news articles on loss of habitat, palm oil and the illegal pet trade, click here.

15 July 2010
Why should we protect the orangutan? It is a frequently asked question when lay-people, including businesspeople, discuss the need to protect orangutans, Asia's only great ape, which is greatly endangered. Read Article »

23 June 2010
If an orangutan blows a raspberry, smacks you on the side of your body or gives you a nip on the arm, don't worry. Read Article »

21 June 2010
Some New Zealand food companies are being slippery about whether they use palm oil, according to a Green Party survey.

6 June 2010
Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Australia and its Indonesian counterpart have secured a 112,000 hectare site in Kalimantan, Indonesia for the release of rehabilitated orangutans.

27 May 2010
Indonesia will introduce a two-year moratorium on deforestation to help tackle climate change, the country's president has said. Read Article »

28 May 2010
United States congressman Earl Blumenauer has called on the Australian Government to legislate to ban illegal timber imports into Australia.

27 May 2010
Cash-strapped Indonesia remains committed to protection of its rainforests as part of the global initiative to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) Plus scheme, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says.

27 May 2010
Indonesia will honor palm oil companies' existing contract despite its pledge to suspend new concessions to clear the nation's natural forests and peat lands for two years, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says.