God, that's tragic. It's always horrible when loads of animals die (although having said that, it's always horrible then loads of people die too).
Oook I always remember the smile that came to my face when I read this. Poor Orang's, but it is good to know that there are also good people out there trying to help them...
That's appalling news. Especially considering how few orangutans are left in the wild anyway. We should have a Boardanian fundraising drive for orangutans.
[quote:057ef53df9="OmKranti"]I think the most appaling this about the story was the guys with machetes. I mean. Wow.[/quote:057ef53df9] At the risk of everybody going totally Librarian-poo and jumping on me, I would like to make one point. Om - the orangs are being driven out of their natural habitat and are raiding human crops - but those crops are vital to the survival of the human beings concerned, so naturally they defend their crops with the weapons they have - this is a knock-on effect from the original problem - should they simply starve because other people have created a problem? Very few people have the temperament to lie down and die to help preserve an endangered species. The answer (if one is possible) has to be at the other end of the problem - either stop destroying the habitat, or (if the other resources are desperately needed) possibly find a new one and transfer the orangs - I'm no geography expert, but hasn't South America got more forests than Borneo? (Assuming they don't all get cut down as well!)
It is a point. I don't remember if it has been mentioned in the article or not, but most of those fires are either directly caused (often planned) by humans or indirectly the effect of human behaviour.