Rescuers Rush To Save Orangutan With A Rope Tied Around Her Neck

When the heroes of the Human-Orangutan Conflict team with the amazing animal welfare organization Internal Animal Rescue got a call about an orangutan tied up and abused, being treated as a person’s pet, they knew the clock was ticking and they had to act fast.

They discovered a three-year-old female orangutan in a small village of the Ketapang Regency of West Kalimantan on the island of Borneo, Indonesia, who had been stolen from the wild kept in captivity with a chain and rope lynched around her neck. The cruel owners of the rubber tree and palm oil plantation where the injured orangutan was found likely abused and mistreated the poor animal, who the rescuers named Kokom.

“We’ll probably never know how Kokom came to be alone in a plantation with a rope tied round her neck. At three years old she should still be living with her mother high up in the tree canopy, learning from her what foods to eat, how to build a nest every night and how to stay safe from predators,” Alan Knight, the CEO of International Animal Rescue said.

“Tragically Kokom’s mother is likely to have suffered the same fate as so many other female orangutans trying to protect their babies. She was probably killed and her baby captured to be kept or sold as a pet. Happily she is now safely in our care and, with the help of our expert team of vets and carers, Kokom stands every chance of one day returning to the wild.”

Although this poor animal has been held captive for what was likely most of her life, we’re so thankful to know that it wasn’t too late for her and she will now get the care and help she needs to rehabilitate and hopefully someday return to life in the wild.