Tell the palm oil industry: Orangutans are no pests!
The orangutang’s mother has been killed on a palm oil plantation
The BBC reports: Orangutans are treated as pest and exterminated on Indonesian and Malaysian palm oil plantations. In the last year alone, up to 1,800 orangutans were killed in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). Please write to the Malaysian Palm Oil Council and protest with your signature against the slaughter of orangutans.
News and updates Call to action“”
"Some workers found an orangutan on the plantation," one of their colleagues said in the BBC interview. "The company paid them $100 for it. I don't know what the company did with the ape, but they want them gone because they see them as pests."
Although Orangutans are protected by law in Indonesia, they are being hunted mercilessly. Their natural habitat is threatened by the extreme expansion of palmoil plantations. The rainforest is being clear-cut and consequently, the orangutang’s livelihood is destroyed forever. They wander hungry through the plantations as though in a daze, looking for food and thus eat the palm seedlings. Palm oil plantation workers are paid to kill orangutans either before a forest is cleared or, if they see any in a plantation. Either way, it is totally illegal to harass, harm or kill any orangutans.
Support the call by well-known orangutang-environmentalist Sean Whyte and Rainforest Rescue to protect these highly endangered apes. Sign our protest letter to the palmoil industry and demand judicial standards to protect the orangutans. Orangutangs are no pests!
BackgroundRead more about the background in these articles:
BBC News: Palm oil threat to Indonesia's orangutans
BBC Video
Jakarta Globe: Police Name Three More Suspects In Orangutan Slaughter Case
Report by Greenomics
Research Article about Killing of Orangutans
Tan Sri Datuk Dr Yusof Basiron
Chief Executive Officer
Malaysian Palm Oil Council
2nd. Floor, Wisma Sawit,
Lot 6, SS6, Jalan Perbandaran,
47301 Kelana Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan,
MALAYSIA
Dear Dr Yusof Basiron,
I learn from press reports that thousands of Orangutans are deliberately killed each year on oil palm plantations.
I also understand from a recent BBC report, oil palm oil companies regard this legally protected species as a pest.
Please will the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) and its members urgently implement and enforce a 'NO KILL' policy in both Malaysia and Indonesia, thus safeguarding wildlife in general and orangutans in particular?
We know some companies have already agreed to have such a policy, so it surely is feasible for the members of MPOC to follow that
example.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Recent successes